#scout running around the whole base waking everyone up to tell them about the pancakes he won't give them

[zarla-s]

i bet this has been done before but i wanted to do it anyway so HERE YOU GO

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[writingdispenser]

New Chapter Excerpt While It’s Still Cooking

The new chapter is still in the works, and I am in fact gunning to have it finished by today! But while I’m still working on it, I know y’all have been waiting for a while now, so here’s a small excerpt from the beginning to tide you over.

For context, here’s where I’m at in the word document right now:

Sorry for the delay! Hope you enjoy it when it’s finally out.

It was an unspeakable hour of the morning, yet the BLU base was buzzing with more life than usual as everyone clattered around before the long drive. Heavy was helping Demo move the last of their bags down for the bus, as Scout raced from room to room anxiously, seeming to be looking for something lost. Engineer groggily drank a mug of coffee in the kitchen meanwhile, doing his best to politely ignore the loud food shoveling coming from Soldier next to him. He gave Spy a silently relieved nod as he entered the room, glad to have someone finally he could actually converse with.

“Mornin,” he greeted as Spy returned the nod back, already making a beeline straight for the coffee pot.

“Good to see you too,” Spy replied, checking the pot’s contents. “Surprised to see you here, actually. You didn’t have to wake up with us too, you know.”

Engineer shrugged as he took another sip, before Scout’s head poked through the kitchen door for what must have been the third time so far today.

“Yo, are you sure you haven’t seen my –”

“No, I still haven’t seen your lucky baseball card in the plastic sleeve ‘round here, and yes, I did look,” Engineer answered like clockwork amiably. “You seen it anywhere, Spy?”

Spy shrugged with a sigh, before downing a swig of coffee from his freshly poured mug.

“You always keep it in your pocket, yes? Have you checked the laundry room?”

“Wha – of course I checked the laundry room, I looked through ALL the stupid laundry, do I look like a dummy?!”

“…And you remembered, I assume, that we place items found in the pockets in the basket on the second shelf to the right then, yes?”

Scout gave a short pause at that.

“Uh…yeah! Totally! Totally checked those places I’ll – I’ll be right back –”

Scout ran just as quickly out of the room as he had entered it, Engineer giving a low chuckle as he watched him dash.

“Not the brightest crayon in the box, is he?”

“I’ve worked with worse,” Spy shrugged, before blinking as he finally noticed the stack of pancakes on the countertop. “Hm…was that you?”

“Nah, Demo got here first and made uh…a lot.” Engineer moved his chair a little bit to the side at that, as Soldier enthusiastically squeezed maple syrup out of the bottle a little too hard next to him.

Syrup gushed across on the table, but Soldier didn’t seem to mind or care as long as at least some of it landed on his horrifically wrecked plate of pancakes. Engineer scooted his chair even further as Soldier dove back into it, cleanly managing to avoid most of his coworker’s mess.

“Ha…he probably made too many on purpose,” Spy laughed lightly, already walking towards their table with a neatly stacked plate of his own in hand. “He likes to be helpful, but never wants to look like he’s trying to be helpful. If that makes any sense.”

Engineer made some room for him on the least sticky stretch of table as Spy pulled out a chair, sitting down.

“Well, you’ve known him longer than me,” Engineer shrugged now. “Only reason I’m up right now is I was plannin’ on driving to my other work arrangements early…what with all the fuss going on lately and all.”

He wasn’t lying there either; he really did want to get to work early today, although for reasons other than his own personal healthy work ethic. He took another sip of coffee with a quirked smile as Spy gave a snort in response.

The sooner he had time to make use of the teleporter he had hidden in the RED’s base the better…and who knows, maybe there would be something there that would help him slip into the old fighting grounds. Two birds with one stone, if he was lucky. Hell, he knew about the underground tunnels BLU used to operate, thanks to research he did back when he knew he’d be stationed here – who knows what the REDs had going on that’d be similar?

Just then, Medic suddenly burst into the room behind them. The doctor barely acknowledged his teammates as he darted past them with a grunt, grabbing three pancakes from the countertop stack and shoveling them haphazardly into his face. He just as quickly grabbed the entire pot of coffee off the machine before dashing back out of the room, leaving the door swinging, as he left nothing but muffled curses from his still stuffed mouth behind.

“…What’s got his goat?” Engineer asked curiously.

“He had some experiments this whole…excursion of ours is interrupting,” Spy replied calmly. “I wouldn’t worry about it. Honestly, he’s always like this.”

“He could have at least poured his own coffee instead of stealing the entire pot…”

“I WILL MAKE A NEW ONE!”

“Soldier, no –”

It was too late to protest however; Soldier shot up from his seat proudly, still covered in sticky syrupy mess as he made his way towards the coffee machine.

“Hold on just a second, Soldier!” Spy quickly got up after him, stopping the man in his tracks with a hand to his shoulder.

He winced quietly as he tried to ignore the brown sludge now sticking to his unfortunate gloves, Soldier curiously turning around towards him, grin still plastered across his face.

“What’s the problem, private?” Soldier asked, clearly itching to unwittingly spread his mess further.

“You know, we’re going to be leaving in about a half hour,” Spy replied, keeping his voice smooth as best he could. “There will be…higher ranking officials seeing us off. And our ah…previous engineer besides. You do wish to look your best, don’t you?”

Soldier paused, before looking down at himself, then back up at Spy. Clarity regarding his situation finally seemed to sink into him.

“…ALRIGHT MAGGOTS, NEW PLAN! YOU MAKE THE COFFEE, I HIT THE SHOWERS!”

Soldier made a race for the door now, running straight into Sniper who stumbled in surprise as he was pushed aside. Sniper looked down mournfully at his newly ruined clothes, as the hurried stomping of Soldier’s boots faded down the halls.

“Well,” he sighed quietly. “Off to a great start.”

“You and the rest of us,” Spy replied, shaking his head in sympathy.

Spy tossed his own sticky ruined glove in the sink, before replacing it with a fresh one from his jacket pocket. As he pulled out an unused coffee pot from one of the cupboards, Sniper finally made his way inside with a shrug.

Spy passed Sniper a roll of paper towels in the meanwhile as the man muttered his thanks, pausing to wipe himself off as best he could.

“Surprised to see you here this early Truckie,” Sniper murmured, tossing the now sticky towels away into the garbage.

“Yeah, I’ve been getting that a lot today so far,” Engineer chuckled as he went back to his coffee. “Well, except from Soldier. I think the man actually expects me to keep this early morning schedule as a regular thing…”

“Christ,” Sniper muttered now, as he stopped fishing around for a clean plate long enough to fully take in the absolute state of the kitchen table left behind. “Don’t tell me this was all his work?”

“Just got him to go to the showers,” Spy snorted, already placing the newly filled coffee pot into its machine to heat up. “I might have used Everett’s name, of course.”

Sniper gave a low laugh at that, as Engineer looked between them curiously.

“Everett…?” He asked, voice trailing off in question.

Sniper and Spy exchanged glances at Engineer’s question, causing his back to stiffen up at that. Things had been going so well, he had almost forgotten…in many ways to his own team he was still practically speaking, an outsider. It’s not as if he knew it couldn’t be helped; most teams he joined already had a much longer shared history going, before he was ever added into the mix.

“Ah, apologies – that was the name of our previous Engineer,” Spy finally replied, shrugging as he now returned back to his seat, coffee duties finished. “I just thought it was alright to use his actual name, given he’s technically retired…”

 “Soldier used to follow him like a puppy,” Sniper added in bluntly.

He took a seat at the same table now himself with his newly procured plate of pancakes. Spy sighed, shaking his head towards him at that. Sniper didn’t seem to notice though, or at least pointedly ignored Spy’s reaction. He reached for the syrup then before hesitating, pulling his hand back. It appeared as if Soldier’s misuse of the stuff had put Sniper off for now.

 “…That’s certainly one way of characterizing it,” Spy replied slowly, choosing his words carefully. “He harbors admiration, I think. Everett served in the previous World War, keep in mind – officially I mean. And you know how Soldier – hm. Soldiers in the badlands in general. How they tend to be.”

“Ah,” Engineer replied slowly as well, swilling his mug. “I was too young to get drafted for most of that business myself…although if I’m being honest, it was a pretty close shave. I turned 18 in September of ’45.”

Sniper gave a low whistle at that.

“That’s more than a close shave mate; you must have the luck of a saint.”

Engineer snorted, before downing the last of his coffee.

“Boy, I wish…if I did, maybe Miss Pauling wouldn’t have chewed us out as long as she did after yesterday’s dance with the GRNs.”

At that Sniper gave a raspy laugh of his own, Spy’s eyes crinkling in amusement himself.

“It’s a miracle we got off as scott free as we did,” Sniper finally managed to add, a lighter smile now on his face. “Outside of the talkin’ to, I mean…”

“It’s ‘cause all them pencil pushers in admin know y’all are gonna be out of their hair soon anyway,” Engineer chuckled. “A few respawns on the GRN’s don’t cost ‘em as much as the usual bail money with these sorts of situations anyway. And I’m pretty sure those fellas had to have gotten a chewing out too.”

Engineer grinned at the thought of that…he sure hoped they did.

“Speaking of Pauling,” Spy mused. “I heard she’ll be arriving in the bus we’ll be leaving in today…although I highly doubt she’ll be driving back with us. I assume a different member of administration will be assigned to keep tabs on our lot while we’re away.”

“Probably Miss Howard then,” Sniper shot in over another bite. “She’s the one we see most often ‘round this area anyway.”

“Can’t say I’ve met that member of admin yet…”