when the engineer pulled his family name by the reigns & took up work under red, the only things under his hardhat seemed to be doing his job & not having his workplace be a nightmare. though the second part was debatable, keeping amicable relations with his teammates seemed easy, and usually that was enough. not that he'd be spending much downtime with them in the first place- all his free time was reserved for the workshop and whatever contraptions he had been working on.
of course that didn't exclude a certain medical doctor from waltzing in whenever he wanted. borrowing tools and collaborating on a new machine weren't out of the ordinary for either man- both were overqualified in their respective scientific fields- and if working alone got stale, they had a likeminded coworker to bring a hot drink and revised blueprints.
on the outside, completely professional; as professional as a couple of murderous mercenaries could get. and yet here was the engineer, completely immobilized in his seat at 3 am.
running off caffeine was a common occurrence.. if he was lost in a project. he was now in a sea of blueprints and tools he had neglected to organize. even with unsteady muscles and enough energy to power the red base for a week, engineer was tinkering with a different kind of problem.
he wasn't even sure where it began, or how. all he knew was that it was here, it was real, and was probably bigger than he could have hoped.
maybe it was that first fresh day meeting the other mercs, when the german gripped his hand with such force he darn near cut off circulation. perhaps it was when he started overhealing the texan whenever the two happened to be nearby on the battlefield. how about when the two were starting to collaborate on those late nights, when the medic would be pushing up his glasses when they got a bit too low? or when they would reach for the same tools in the excitement of sharing an idea…
… let's go check on the sentries.
dwelling on emotions was not a favorite pastime. any feelings were poured into improving machines, and this was starting to be hardhat's most productive week.
the sentries guarding the trail towards their current home base did need to be reloaded. engie figured though, just in case, he'd bring the whole toolbox.
after a bit of a stroll down the dimly lit concrete corridors, the door to the garage welcomed him with a warm breeze and plenty of sand. the garage door was open, but it was fine; he could close it on his way back.
first stop was the level one closest to the tarp covering the base. the plan was to work his way back out, mainly to ease the journey back to his workshop. carefully he popped open the top compartment on the sentry gun and began to reload.
that's when the smell of cigarette smoke started to strengthen.
engineer paused, and heard the faint sound of dress shoes crunching towards him, athough near silent. no chances, he thought, instinctively reaching into his toolbox for his wrench.
he heard the cloak dissipate and turned his head ever so slightly- only to breathe a sigh of relief when red entered his vision.
"don't you scare me like that," engineer hissed, still brandishing his wrench.
"you're up late." the spy responded. "i thought you would be finishing your new toy with the doctor, but i see you had other plans." engie felt his face get hot, both over his work being downplayed and the implications that spy probably knew a bit more than he let on. he always did.
"... i was reloading the sentries." the level one sentries, huh?
"mhm."
the two sat in silence, unmoving.
"can i help you?" engineer finally broke. he didn't mean to come off agitated, but he caught it in his tone and felt the embarrassment shoot down his spine.
"not immediately, no."
he's having fun with this, isn't he?
"maybe you can tell me how off my placement was today." engineer mumbled, closing the top compartment. "or who'd kill me fastest where."
"a bit sour tonight, are we?" spy puffed on his cigarette. "are you and medic.. not getting along?"
again the rush of blood to the face. the way spy puts it…
"no! we're getting along great, thank you very much." engie snips, then falters. "i.. just have a lot on my mind. wanted to clear my head."
"hm."
more silence. engie wished the respawn machine ran into an unexpected error. he knows what the frenchman is doing, and he doesn't want to give in, but reloading a couple of barely used sentry guns isn't doing anything for the texan.
"you're that interested, huh?"
"not really, but you're usually fixing something when you're overthinking. and this isn't fixing."
"... when do you think it started?"
spy raised an eyebrow.
"i mean, i wasn't always weird around medic. i know you're better at pickin' that stuff up than i am. and i don't know why, but things we do together that usually don't mean nothin'? they're startin' to mean a whole lotta somethin'." engie chuckled. "actually i.. declined the all nighter tonight so i didn't make myself look like a fool."
spy was suppressing a handful of chortles very poorly.
"and of course i'm no brain expert, but askin' the doc himself feels.. borderline unprofessional, somehow. i'm not afraid of him, i just.. don't want him to stop workin' with me."
both men were silent- mostly. spy got out his quiet laughter, and engie felt his face burn for the third time. why the hell did he just expose his feelings? and to spy of all people! who knows where that information could end up?
"now i know you're not in your right mind." spy shook his head lightly, not losing his smirk. "assuming medic would see any sort of anomaly and abandon ship? at most he'd cut you open for some sort of experiment."
not that i would mind.
"well… that's what ya got outta me." the mechanic slammed the top compartment back down onto the gun, buzzing it back to life. "you can tease me all ya want now."
"what, that's it?" spy was almost in disbelief. "you want me to handle your romantic baggage while you turn into a hermit?"
"well, it's not like i wanna tell him.. wait, romantic?"
"what's got you afraid to even comically ask him?"
"it's.. just not professional."
"the man creates crimes against god on a daily basis, and you're worried about professionalism."
the two were quiet. he really had a point. even under contracts from companies hiring their hands, it was pretty lawless- especially when it was just the mercenaries. still, he had never even put the word 'romance' on the playing field. 'infatuation' maybe..
engineer quickly packed his toolbox, then pulled himself up. the other sentries can wait. with all his qualms against revealing his intentions disproved, his mind was now muddled further. now he had to shoot his pride in the foot for spy.
".. i'm overthinkin' this." he spoke, desperately keeping eye contact with his sentry.
"as you engineers tend to do." when engie shot him a warning glance, the spy smirked and pat him on the shoulder. "he's likely still awake. go sort this out."
the shorter man frowned. "where are you going?"
"bed- you know, like other men with sense."
it was hard to be upset at this point. even if the constant sarcastic tone drove him up the walls, engineer had to admit he was more relaxed than before. although it felt spy originally came to harass him, maybe he was.. helping?
that's enough overthinking.
he followed his masked colleague back into their base, but instead of continuing to their quarters, he beelined it to the medical lab. no matter what he was actually feeling, he would just be glad to see medic again. that's all he needed.
