TF2 (Reader X Scout): Expect the Unexpected

Ch 10: Everything Will Be Okay

You don't know how long you sat there holding Scout. It was hard to really pay much attention to time when you were holding a crying Scout in your arms. Scout was hugging you so tightly it almost felt like he thought you might just vanish if he loosened his grip on you at all. You made no comment on it. You just hugged him back with just as much strengthen in some vain hope that maybe it would give him a bit of comfort. Eventually, after he cried his heart out Scout's energy finally gave out on him. He was leaning against you so much now that you were pretty much the only thing keeping him sitting upright. His grip on you had loosened a bit, but he didn't dare move his arms away from you.

It was quiet for a few seconds, but eventually you heard Scout mumble "I don't want to read anymore comics."

"You don't have to if you don't want to," You assure him. "If you ever want to continue reading them one day that's fine, but if you never want to read it again that's fine too. Don't force yourself to read them if you don't want to."

You could feel Scout nod slightly, but he didn't say anything. You kept one arm wrapped around the mercenary as you used your other one to pull the laptop a little closer to you so that you could turn it off. This caused Scout to tighten his hold a bit on you again. Apparently he was afraid that you would let him go when he really wasn't ready for you to let him go yet. You gave Scout's shoulder a slight squeeze of reassurance, and that seemed to be enough to make him relax a bit. Once the laptop was off you didn't really know what to do or say now. You never had to comfort someone after they learned such a painful thing before.

"Do you want to talk about it some more?" You asked slowly. "I'm here if you want to vent about it."

You felt Scout shake his head no.

"I might take you up on that later," Scout said softly. "But right now I really don't want to talk about it."

"That's fine," You said. "Just know that I'm here for you if you ever want to talk about it."

"I know," Scout said softly. "You are pretty much the only one on my side."

Your heart ached a little upon hearing that. That comment was a crystal clear sign that Scout's trust in his team had been destroyed. If Scout ever got back home the fallout from this truth bomb being dropped probably wouldn't be pretty. That thought quickly left your head as Scout finally let go of you. He left your embrace with some clear hesitation as well, but you didn't say anything about that.

Now that he didn't have his head buried in your shoulder you were able to get a good look at his face. His eyes were red from crying, and his cheeks were a little wet from his tears. His shoulders were slumped almost as if in defeat, and he couldn't bring himself to look right into your eyes. It was like he either didn't have the strength to do so, or he didn't want to see the expression on your face upon seeing him in this state. It was a heartbreaking sight.

"Do-" Scout started to say only to cut himself off.

He paused for a moment as if unsure of if he should continue, but eventually he plucked up his courage and finally asked his question.

"Do you have a notebook and a pen or pencil that I can use?"

"Oh, yeah I think I got a sketchpad somewhere around here."

You slid off of the bed, and quickly went over to your desk to grab the sketchpad that you knew was over there.

As you searched you heard Scout sigh and say "When I'm like real mad I tend to go to the training room and practice hitting targets with my Sandman and some baseballs. If some of my team mates are using the training room I would just go on a run to clear my head. I would do that here, but well running in the rain usually isn't fun."