Side By Side

17

Warnings:
-Mentions (child) abuse

Clay's POV

~ A Few Weeks Later ~

After weeks of constant and very intense training, from today were the last days of this boot camp, which meant we would hear who graduated. I was pretty sure Sapnap and I graduated together and most of this platoon did.

Today was the first day I would see my family again for a short time. After graduation, I would immediately continue with my AIT, which meant advanced individual training. I had to choose a speciality in the army that I wanted to follow and the one I chose was seven weeks.

I was walking around while waiting for my parents. I was so focused on the boot camp that I barely thought about them anymore, but now they were coming, I realised how much I actually missed them.

I looked over to my right and saw Sapnap sitting on a chair in silence. He didn't have anyone who was coming today so I walked up to him and lifted him up.

'Do you want to meet my parents?' I asked as he stood up slowly. 'I know there's no one coming so I want to make you feel loved and meet mine.'

'Thank you,' he whispered, walking with me. We stood together while I waited for them to come and as soon as I saw them, I ran forwards and jumped up into my dad's arms.

He gave me a really tight hug and kissed my cheek as he put me down again. 'I'm so proud of you, Clay. I've missed you a lot, but I was so sure you could do this!'

I gave my mother a hug too and turned around. 'This is Sapnap, he used to be my "battle buddy" and we had to do most things together.'

'Hi, Sapnap!' my parents greeted him. Sapnap looked really shy and smiled softly as he looked at the floor. 'Are you parents coming too?'

'No... no one is coming,' he mumbled.

It was quiet for a short while and then my parents nodded. 'You can sit with us! How did it go? Tell me about it.'

'Well... everyone did kind of figure out that I'm gay,' I chuckled. 'And my first platoon made a really big problem out of this, but my sergeant told me that I'm one of the best recruits he ever had so he didn't want me to leave and fought for me so I could have a place in this army. I was moved to a different platoon and met Sapnap there.'

They nodded and we sat down as Sapnap and I started telling them things. I let Sapnap talk a lot too because he was full of passion about it and had no one else to talk to. We filled up an hour by constantly talking about the boot camp, but then we were called to come to our sergeants.

We had to stand in a row and march to the front of this area. I stood next to Sapnap as we walked there, perfectly in line with all the others. I could feel nerves in my body even though I was pretty sure I graduated. I was just really excited to see who else did and if Sapnap graduated too.

It was quiet as the general stood in front of us this time. He began a speech while all of us just saluted to him to make sure we did the right thing.

'This year, we've been proven wrong by our recruits. We had a rule that women and people who were part of the LGBTQIA+ couldn't join the army. This is a rule they made in the whole world for as far as I'm aware, but one of our recruits proved us differently.'

I felt a smile grow on my face and the general glanced through the crowd of recruits to find me.

'Our first graduated recruit is Clay. We've discussed beforehand and I'm allowed to say this, but Clay is gay and we thought he couldn't do it. He passed all his tests and most of his scores were as high as from an advanced soldier. He made the difference in our mindsets and in our boot camp. From now on, we will give women and people with a different sexuality a chance!'

Everyone started clapping as I saluted the general. He saluted back and gave me my graduation things. I walked back and waited until everyone was called out. Sapnap graduated too and I cheered him on as he came back.

'Well done, dude. We are definitely going to stay in contact, alright? I think we are doing the same advanced training, aren't we?'

He nodded. 'We are. I can't wait! We did it and I'm so proud of you. You're the first openly gay soldier, that must feel so amazing!'

'It does,' I smiled. 'I was able to prove everyone wrong. I'm going to laugh so hard when I go to my school again and tell all the bullies and the teachers that I passed as one of the best.'

Sapnap grinned. 'I kind of want to go to my parents,' he chuckled.

'Do it, you got combat training. If they hurt you, you can just beat the shit out of your parents this time,' I wheezed.

Sapnap rolled his eyes and softly pushed my shoulder. 'It's true, but let's not get to that.'

'Only if it's necessary!' I laughed as I pulled him closer. 'Do you want another hug?'

'Yes, please,' he whispered with a really fragile voice. 'I don't want to complain, but I really missed hugs. I always saw my old friends getting a hug from their parents and they beat me instead...'

'Hey, it's okay. You can give me as many hugs as you wish for,' I smiled. 'I had loving parents but I've never had any friends so it's really worthy to me that a guy around my age wants to hug me too.'

He rested his head against my chest because he was shorter than me and then looked up with a soft smile. 'I wouldn't have made it without you, Clay. The day before you moved to our platoon, I told my sergeant I would quit if I didn't make it another time.'

'Really?'

'Yes... but then you came and I'm SO happy that I didn't give up,' he answered.

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