Elliot’s feet clanked against the metal deck plates. Edward was coming back after his stint on the ground, and he hadn’t managed to hear anything from him today. He didn’t know why, but a nagging feeling in his mind told him it was something bad.

So that was why he was marching to the boat bay to meet him as he got off the Valkyrie. Just to make sure he is safe.

Elliot shook his head. No. This was something a love obsessed person would do but… He did have some feelings towards the man. To what extent? He couldn’t make it out yet. His emotions were still swirling, but when weren’t they? And was he just still in denial over Edward?

But at a junction along the corridor, he saw David walk though and towards the boat bay as well.

He bit his lip. He hadn’t had too many interactions with them. Well, too many voluntary ones. He seemed like some sort of cackling vampire that instead of feeding on blood, fed off of people’s exasperation and frustration towards him.

He wanted to have a relaxing day where he could get some alone time with Edward and David would try to drag them away to some corner god knows where or simply frustrate him before he got to Edward.

Oh shit.

“Oh! Hello! Well, isn’t it my favourite professional olive branch offerer! How are you doing this fine evening?”

Elliot breathed in, a smile forming on his face and his eyes softening, “I’m doing alright thank you, Just I’m a little busy right now!” Diplomatic training it turned out came in use more than just in negotiations. All he had to do was hope it wor-

“You’re heading to the boat bay, aren’t you? Now I wonder why that would be…”

Elliot’s breath caught in his lungs, “I! I-its for perfectly reasonable- uh- Reasons! I’m just going for a walk, that’s all and it’s the largest open area of the ship.”

“The largest open area that is also an active hazard zone.”

“Well…”

David raised an eyebrow, the corner of his mouth twitching, “Well what?”

“There are some set times that its safe.”

“And this is not one of those set times. Now just come out and admit it that you have the time that our beloved admiral will be coming back memorised in your head. And right now, he should be approaching our ship and you will get there on time to meet him as the boat bay pressurises.”

Elliot thought it was best to not refute that. He had been completely caught in the open and the hole he was digging in that clearing was only growing larger. “Yes…”

“See! There’s no shame in admitting that at all!” David chuckled, pulling Elliot close and slapping him on the back, “We all love the admiral here, and I know you have a special attachment to him.”

Elliot’s face turned white, the vampire sucking all the life from it as he tried to stop his jaw from dropping.

David sniffed, muttering, “Damn, I really need to raise my bet…”

“W-What?”

“Oh, nothing, just the leaky air vents. I’ll get maintenance on it.”

“Y-Yo-“

“Don’t worry mate. Look, I’ll tell you something. Get him some Parkin and some nice tea or coffee and that will get him in the mood to snuggle with you, okay?”

David then patted him on the back again and walked off. Away from the boat bay.

Did he…

Oh my god this is going to get out isn’t this? Isn’t it!?

Elliot started to shake, his knees trembling as he felt himself nearly ready to faint.

“And I won’t tell anyone! Gees you don’t need to faint over it. And if you need any more tips on getting him buttered up just ask!”

Elliot’s quivering head turned, watching David wave as he disappeared around a corner, no one else in sight.

He continued to shake for a little while longer before his internal clock told him he was running late. His body suddenly settling itself as he hurried down the corridor.

----------------------------------------

The light in the airlock flicked to green as the door unlocked, the bay fully pressurised as the service crew jogged towards the shuttle, checking it over as it’s ramp slowly opened.

Elliot wrenched the airlock open, hurrying towards the ramp even as it was still lowering.

Inside was a mess of various people getting up. Mostly various officers it seemed but no Edw-

The signature messy hair and pale, sleep deprived face of Edward made its way to the front, his weary eyes a little unfocused as they wandered around. But the finally settled on Elliot, focusing on him as his face softened.

The Admiral smiled as he stumbled down the ramp, his posture initially seemingly like it was getting ready for a hug before he restrained himself, simply putting a hand on Elliot’s shoulder. “I didn’t expect anyone to be waiting for me to be honest.”

Elliot chuckled, “Well I thought I’d give you a nice surprise.”

Edward’s face flushed slightly causing Elliot’s heart to warm a little.

“Well- Uh- Yeah, it is. But today has been a little interesting to be honest, so I think I might need to go to the mess hall now to get something to eat. I haven’t had anything eight hours and I really should have accepted that Irn-Bru.”

“Well, I haven’t had any either so I’m going with you. But- uh- Whats Iron Brew?”

“It’s a Scottish thing.”

“Oh.”

“Anyway, I’m starving, so let’s go.”

Edward started to walk off, his arm slipping off of Elliot’s shoulder. Elliot, however, didn’t let them stay out of contact for long, the slightly taller man wrapping his arm around Edward’s shoulder to his surprise.

Edward looked up, his eyes suddenly registering it as his mind remembered that despite the diplomat’s looks, he was a little taller than himself.

“Uhh, mate- Why- Uh- Do you have your arm around me?”

Elliot chuckled, his miss-matched eyes drinking in the look of surprise on the admiral’s face, “Well I just thought I should take the lead that all. You’re usually the one doing it and I thought you should be on the receiving end of it this time.”

“Right… Just be ready to stop it if David come around the corner.”

“Don’t worry, I don’t want him to see this either.”

----------------------------------------

It had turned out that they were serving a roast dinner with “toad in the hole” for the officers which had made Edward’s eyes light up at the mention of it.

It had turned out to just be some sausages served in a puffy thing that was a cross between bread and a pancake called a Yorkshire pudding.

And right now, the admiral was demolishing his plate with pretty much nothing left of the meal they had gotten a few minutes ago.

“I didn’t think someone could eat that fast…”

“Well, I’m not sure how you have gotten so far on this place without seeing it, but hungry soldiers waste no time with eating. Though…” He stared wistfully at his plate, “I do wish I wasn’t quite as hungry as I am right now.”

Elliot chuckled slightly; his own plate only half eaten. To be honest it was a little heavy for him, but it was rather nice despite that. “You wish you hadn’t had wolfed it down then?”

“Yeah… I’m sorry for not talking to you today before I got here. Things just got a little hectic, that’s all.”

Elliot’s eyebrow raised, “Hectic? What happened.”

“Oh, it wasn’t much.”

His eyes narrowed, “I know something must have happened. It’s alright, you can tell me.”

Edward swallowed, “Well… A convoy got ambushed and I was in a tank, so I responded with them to it.”

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

“Did you… Get hurt? O-or get in danger?”

“Well, I didn’t get hurt but some people did ambush us while we were going to the ambush” Edward chuckled, a dry and slightly pained chuckle.

“How did you get out of that?”

“I just sorta shot the person who tried to blow one of our tanks up, then someone else shot the other person and we just kept driving…”

Elliot stopped eating, trying meet Edward’s eyes but he was looking down at his plate, unwilling to meet their sight, their fork playing with a solitary piece of batter.

“I don’t want to worry you Elliot, just… Just don’t worry about it.”

“I’m not!”

Edward’s head rose up, shame spread across his face. “You sure? I did just tell you I shot someone. I got into combat when I could have gotten out of the tank and stayed behind and shot someone, more than just someone actually. They fucking charged us, and I shot them.”

Elliot’s eyes fell down, putting his knife and fork put down as well. He then rose his eyes up, “And you’ve been in a lot more battles before and I talked to you in the first place, didn’t I? We had drinks together and we talk a lot-“

“And I didn’t see them ten meters away from when I shot them, hell I didn’t even press the trigger! I told other people to press it!”

“And isn’t that like pressing it yourself?”

Edward stopped. “Yes. Yes, it is…”

“So, you have done it before, and I still talk to you. I know you’re a soldier, I know that you do this, and I still like being around you, do you understand?”

“Y-yes…”

“So don’t worry about how I think about you because of it. Anyway, you’re not the reason why this has to happen…”

Edward’s eyes hardened and locked with Elliot’s, “And I told you this war isn’t your fault. Don’t blame yourself over it! Alright?! I’m the one who pressed the button on this. You’re a good diplomat. It’s just those bastards we’re going to fight it anyway.”

Elliot sighed, “And I know you also feel that way over your job-“

“And I don’t want you to be upset.”

“I don’t want you to be either.”

They both stared at each other, not saying a word.

Edward finally looked away, “Look I-I‘m sorry for this, okay. I shouldn’t have brought it up and it’s a stupid thing to sa-“

“Shush. It’s okay. Look, we- we’ll work through it. Just you have to first stop worrying about what you think I might think about you. Because…” The words seized up in his throat, “Because I like being with you.”

He couldn’t bring himself to admit it yet. It was still too early and he wanted it to be in private and the moment to be special. So, he left it that.

Edward’s face remained hard for a moment longer, before the tension in it melted away, “Alright… And- And I like being with you too, don’t forget that either.”

“I won’t” He chuckled. “Just I’ll finish this up and then I’ll take the plates away, alright?”

“Alright.”

They sat there for a little longer as Elliot finished up before taking the plates and bringing them back over to the serving table between the officer’s mess and the kitchen. Settling the plates down. Then, a thought came into his head.

“Uhh, excuse me sir!” He called out, waving at one of the few remaining cooks in the kitchen, the burly man walking over. From his uniform Elliot realised he must have been the head cook- Sorry, it was “head catering officer” he thought.

“Alr’gt wha’d need?” The cook said, a broad accent permeating every word his gruff voice said.

Elliot’s brain struggled to make heads or tails out of it, the wheels in his head spinning. Why did he had to always be this bad at accents!?

“Uhhh- Do you know what “Paar-kin” is?”

“Wha? Parkin did ye say?”

“Uhh- Yes?”

“Ah, we ain’t got nawt of it.”

“W-what did you say?”

A new voice appeared behind him. No, not a new voice, a familiar one…

“Have you got any problems Olive Branch?”

Elliot whipped his head to the side to find David leaning on the counter, his own plate settled down on the counter.

Elliot swallowed, “Its- uh- What did he say?”

“He said he didn’t have any of the cake, but the thing is,” he turned around to the cook, “I know you have some in the stockpile that’s being kept for gunnery chief for a little on the job snack thing to reward some good performance.”

The chef was about to say something, but David held up a hand,

“And I also know that there is more than he needs so you can spare a bit. We wouldn’t want it to get out that the person messing up the air filters is you smoking your ciggies. You know it’s very much against regulation to do that on a ship, right?”

“Well- I- Uhh-”

David reached across and patted the man on the shoulder, “Its okay friend, all you have to do is give us that little excess and it won’t get out. Hell, if you keep up being cooperative, I’ll see about smuggling some nice cigars over for you, how does that sound?”

The cook swallowed, “I-I’ll be ri’ht back.”

“See! It’s not that hard!” David smiled and turned back to Elliot, “I’ll get it into his cabin so you can take him back after going to the lounge with him and have it ready to nibble up.”

The cook quickly scurried back from a closet and passing it over.

“Thank you for your cooperation! And, oh! Elliot, don’t worry, I’ve kept him distracted so don’t worry about him seeing all this.”

He then patted the diplomat on the shoulder and left before Elliot could muster a response. Instead, he turned back and found Edward happily chatting away with Alex, who was making sure Edward was looking at them and one of the walls, rather than towards the counter.

They waved and called over to him, “Hey, are you coming?”

Elliot simply smiled and walked back to them.

----------------------------------------

Elliot was now getting a little woozy. Not drunk or tipsy, just the slight warmth of the alcohol was starting to pass over him. It was fun. Especially with the company of Alex and Edward. Currently Alex was recalling a time where they had first met Edward online and the awkwardness of it compared to how they were today.

“But anyway,” they continued, “I was so nervous about telling him as I didn’t know about his stance on it, but when I told him that I preferred using gender neutral pronouns he treated it as no big deal and took fairly quickly to it. And, you know, it kind of gave me a fuzzy feeling inside and that was kind of rare at that point.”

“Well, I was a little confused at first since I hadn’t heard a lot about it before and I did muck up a few times initially…” Edward said, his eyes shifting away as he scratched his chin.

“Everyone does though. It took both of us a little time with Lilly.”

“Yeah… I hope they’re doing okay; we’ve only gotten a few messages through, and I know David has been a little concerned too…”

“Well, speaking of him…” Alex muttered, waving at David, just walking through the door.

Elliot couldn’t help but wonder how he was turning up constantly today…

“One of the voices in my head told me someone was talking about me. What is it then?”

Oh, we were just talking about when he met me and a bit about Lilly. Just I know you want to badger Edward with everything now he’s finally back. So, I decided to call you over so you could do that while me and Elliot pick out another drink.”

David shrugged, “Yeah, sure.”

Edward’s eyes however were flicking between everything, the cogs in his head turning, “Are you lot planning something?”

Alex looked over to David, confused, “No, I don’t think so. We know not to throw you surprise birthdays.”

“Though now that you say that,” David interjected, “We are planning something. A great, magnificent display in front of the entire crew where you will be front and centre!”

“Please dear god don’t do that.”

“I knew you’d love the idea!”

Alex tugged on Elliot’s shoulder as it was all happening, taking him away to the drinks cabinet, standing on their tip toes to whisper to him. “I’ve got some nice tea in the bottom draw, left side. You can put on a film as well if you want but this will get him in the mood anyway.”

Elliot’s eyes widened, their mouth moving to Alex’s ear before they could turn away, “W-wait! What mood?”

They looked at him, “You know, the cuddly and let’s open up mood. You two clearly need to do some of it considering how much you’ve been dancing around each other.”

“What do you mean?”

They rolled their eyes, “You two have the most unsubtle crushes on each other I have ever seen.”

“W-Wha- Well- Yeah but- He has a crush on me? How?”

“He’s bisexual if you haven’t noticed and he turns into a flushed mess whenever you touch him or complement him.”

“He is!?”

“Yes. And what you need to do is tell him you’re into guys as well. Now get the tea and me and David will get him to stumble off to his quarters with you, okay?”

“R-Right…”

“Alright, now go get’em”

----------------------------------------

And that was how he was sitting with a cup of tea cradled in his hand, a slice of sticky ginger cake on a plate and, oh yeah, under a blanket with his crush while using their bed as a couch.

And he was going to come out as gay to him.

What the fuck was he actually doing?

His heart pounded as his veins tensed up. But he needed to do it now he was here and hope that Alex was right about him being Bi and also him being perfectly okay with being in this situation when the person next to them might have a crush. Oh god.

Edward seemed a little tense as well, but that was melting away as he chewed on a piece of the Parkin. He’d also taken the time to show Elliot how to actually brew a cup of tea. The look on his face when he’d told them that he’d only had tea with water heated in a microwave was something he’d never expected from Edward. A look of disappointment.

It had been a couple of awkward moments after that, but it had turned into something sweet once the tea started brewing. The admiral had taken out his own tea pot with a little knitted cover with a white “Yorkshire Rose” on it and an electric kettle. He’d boiled the water in the kettle, put two heaped teaspoons into the tea pot, poured the water in and left it for two minutes, swirled the pot and poured the tea into the mugs. On the table was then placed a little plastic jug of milk and a few packets of sugar.

Edward took his with only a little bit of milk added after he poured it in and the mixed it in gently with a teaspoon. “You see, a lot of people would say the way I put the milk in is wrong,” they said, “But those people here are David, so…”

He’d then just taken his tea straight and was now sipping it gently, trying to muster the courage to come out. The sound of Edward’s Progressive rock in the background.

Its alright, Alex wouldn’t lie to you about this being okay. Stop delaying yourself.

“E-Edward?”

“Yeah, what is it?” Edward asked, his head turning around, his eyes meeting their as concern formed, “Is everything alright?”

“I-I I’ve been meaning to tell you something, just, promise me that you won’t freak out about it, okay?”

Edward’s face grew darker, “Well uhh, sure, but you’re getting me nervous here and you look little so yourself as well…”

“Well, I-I just wanted to say I-“ The words caught in his throat as his body reached unimaginable levels of apprehension. Every single instinct in his body told him to run away. To never meet Edward in the eyes again as every irrational fear crept into his mind.

His eyes met a scrap of paper and a pencil on the beside table that he snatched. Hands trembling unimaginable as he printed out the words.

“I AM GAY”

He slammed the paper into Edward’s hand as he looked away, his body trembling still as he felt like he could throw up. A tear rolling down his cheek.

Edward looked at it as his face then blushed.

Edwards arms then wrapped around Elliot as he hugged him.

“I know what it feels like to do that mate. And don’t worry, I’m-“

It was Edward’s turn to seize up,

“I’m bisexual so, you know, it’s okay. You don’t have to worry about acceptance from me.”

Elliot seized up. Then he turned around in Edward’s grasp, his arms wrapping around Edward in return, his eyes wet as he ploughed his face into the Admiral’s chest. From there, a few, rough and warbled cries could be heard.

Elliot couldn’t stand it. It was such a simple thing. Such a simple thing that it shouldn’t even be worth getting emotional over when someone responded positively to it.

But this was from his crush. A man who he thought wouldn’t ever be able to reciprocate the feelings Elliot had for him.

But he could, and he was right now trying to comfort him, a tentative hand being placed onto his head and through his thick, blond hair.

From out of their chest, his face pulled up, sticky with tears, “T-Thank you.” He muttered.

Edward’s eyes were now also slick with tears, his lips holding out a sob, “Just, you’ve gotten me a little emotional now and that doesn’t happen a lot.” He laughed, his voice shaky as he tried to calm himself. “A-And I don’t really open up a lot… I have some issues with that and what you did…”

Edward swallowed, “It was something that I’m not sure I could have done to you and I was kind of waiting for you come out before I did to you…”

Elliot chuckled, his body still trembling slightly from the adrenaline, “You wanted to come out to me, why?”

“Well uh- Its just- It was kinda something I suspected and everyone in my group so far has been, well uh- not straight and- I have issues talking about deep emotional stuff and-“

Elliot placed a finger to Edward’s mouth, shushing him, “Lets just stay here for a few moments longer… Then we can finish everything else here…”

All he needed to do now was construct a confession. Not that it would be any easier.