What are men to rocks and mountains

The bridge

The afternoon passed quickly, with Alison dragging both ex-army men across the entirety of London, explaining anything and everything as they went. How Piccadilly circus managed to show all those 'videographic advertisements' at once, how yes the giant observation wheel is permanent- Captain, how she could pay for everything with a plastic card that somehow held all of her money, and most importantly- how German tourists sightseeing around were perfectly acceptable- weren't on some secret spy mission, and weren't a threat to anyone.

They'd visited Churchill's war rooms, where both the Captain and Lieutenant had been on numerous occasions before. They knew their way around the maze better than their tour guide, even though in the Captain's case Alison was the only one who knew that. The three of them had hung around the back of the group, chatting about the good old days, letting Alison in on their inside jokes, and telling her all the stories they'd lived through with the big man Churchill himself in these very rooms. "One time, he made me stay up with him for nearly three days. Havers was lucky, he got to sneak a few naps in the backroom. I was stuck there. I thought I was going to fall asleep on his desk right there." The Captain jokes, his eyes shining with a glee Alison had rarely ever seen on him. Havers, at one point, had found the both of them in a picture with the prime minister, both fresh faced and ready for battle- and had pointed it out excitedly to Alison who, despite the warnings not to take any pictures- snapped one anyway.

They visited the Imperial war museum, where the men were like children in a candy store, a second away from pressing their faces and hands against the glass and peering inside at any given point. She also showed them the statues and memorials, and with every passing memorial the men found it harder to keep it together.

They were just returning from the HMS Belfast, one of the biggest WW2 museums and memorial of London, when Havers finally cracked.
"I can't believe there's still... I mean- people still haven't forgotten." He said, amazed. He hadn't dared to dream, that almost 80 years later, people were still interested in the war. People still hadn't forgotten, putting up entire museums as a constant reminder of the soldiers that went out to fight but never came home. Soldiers that gave their life so that others might live theirs.

"Yeah, William. We haven't forgotten. We won't ever forget what you- both of you and everyone else who helped defeat the Germans, have sacrificed for us. What you lost. And... I don't think I've ever told you this Captain." She said, turning from William to the older man standing beside him, looking just as speechless as the Lieutenant.

"But thank you. Both of you. For your service I mean." Spending the entire day in WW2 museums looking at photos, videos and other memorabilia had really put things into perspective for her. Of course she'd know about the war, but it had been a while since she'd seen the conditions the people lived back then in up close, seen the destruction of the blitz, the horror, the death. She hadn't realised how much either of them sacrificed for the greater good, and she couldn't be more thankful to have grown up in an age where there was no oppression and no war. And it was partly thanks to them. Both men smiled, a smile that made their eyes gleam with pride as they nodded in return. A quiet expression of thanks that said more than words ever could.

Alison had then led them along to a street she'd wanted to take them the entire day. It was near the Tower Bridge, and it was a street that she knew had been a popular LGBTQ+ hangout for a few years- one of her friends from Uni frequently visited it. She'd had her suspicions about the Captain for so long, but now that Havers was here and she'd seen their chemistry up close, she was absolutely certain there was something going on between the two- whether they wanted to admit it or not. She'd seen the glances they stole when the other wasn't looking. The way the one would smile fondly when the other was excitedly yapping away about (boring) army stuff. But the Captain's lack of acknowledgement of his feelings, or maybe- his refusal to accept them- made her feel like he could use a modern point of view on the situation. She knows the 40's were a horrible time to be anything other than straight after all.