TeamFortress2's New Addition

Chapter Ninety-Five

You didn't ultimately say much on the ride back, but you much preferred that to trying to hide your thinking face from the others. They always seem to know when I'm considering something. Especially in the case of Medic, if he discovered the phone number in your pocket, well... you don't particularly want to imagine that outcome. His hostility with Quinn was honestly more than enough... but if he knew it was the BLU version of him? We'd be screwed.

Speaking of, I wonder if I call him more, would that lower the potential suspicion of calling the BLU Medic? ...Am I really considering maintaining our friendship just for something selfish? Does that make me a bad person? I mean... it certainly feels weird at the least to justify it. Maybe I can just focus on talking to him without an ulterior motive? What does that look like? Have I really lost all of my social skills already....?

You were walking back into the base alongside Pyro, who was interestingly very excited to talk to you but not as concerned with you responding. What started this?

Attempting to hold off on your current thought process, you tried to make out what they were saying. If Engie can do it... doesn't that make it possible? Of course he's smarter than me..., but is intellect the only means to understanding someone's manner of speech? You nodded when they seemed to pause in between subjects.

From what you've been gathering, they seem to speak as if they are extremely muffled. Well, no duh. A gas mask isn't exactly a sound booth. Is he speaking English? Does Engie know any other languages...? Can I rule out the others?

You eventually ended up following them to their room, where they nicely sat you down for another tea party. You really hadn't noticed, but remembering your last tea party with a disgruntled Medic would lead to a distraction. Just focus on what he's saying, Strategist... if you can.

"...Over here!" Pyro excitedly shouted and then mimicked an explosion. Your eyes jumped open in shock. Did I...? Did he...? Pyro cocked their head to the side. "....what...?" Amidst the words you couldn't understand... you were actually getting it! Holy shit.

"Sorry!" You did your best to laugh off your surprise. "Do you mean the rockets or the sticky bombs?" You were really hoping they were referring to their role in the plan, which meant either their time airblasting the Blu Sentry's rockets back into it or when they saved Engie from the Blu Demo's trap.

"The...-ombs!" Pyro cheered and you couldn't help but smile. Certain consonants were pretty much doomed to be heard, but maybe you could treat it like your own language...?

"Oh yeah! I was super impressed by that! Seeing the Blu Demo's face was hilarious." You both laughed, and you felt surprisingly excited by the idea of talking to Pyro... but for real.

Pyro seemed to get even more giddy at your participation and sped up, making it impossible to understand anything at all. You tried to slow them down, but it didn't work. So, you decided to take your victory and continue later.

You both continued to enjoy the real tea and invisible food as you sat next to their balloonicorn. For a moment, you were peacefully distracted from your plans to call the BLU Medic, and it was nice. Eventually though, you had to make a polite escape to take a shower before dinner. Running around like a pretend Soldier took more out of you than you would prefer to admit. I really don't know how he does it....

You managed to slip into your room without having to interact with anyone else from your team. You heard some of them celebrating down the hall in the living room, but you really just needed to take a moment alone. I can join them in a bit. After checking your room for Spy, you locked your door and turned on the shower.

Would the BLU Medic even answer the call? Would he call me first? ...Would he be willing to tell me about the others on his team...? It would make it easier to plan how to get them alone in future battles.

I know I've forgiven most of them for the... kidnapping incident, but I haven't really processed it. My memory sucks ass, and they're not exactly painting the BLU Medic as anything good.... Is it even worth bringing it up? Would it make him regret trying to talk to me?

The BLU Engineer claims that they were forced to do it, and some of them weren't very enthusiastic about their... turn. I don't know if it was malicious or meant to just get at me for the sake of it, and I guess that's why I've been able to just move on from it so easily. I don't think I really need to fear them, but it feels weird to not really have any lingering panic from something like that.

Have I lost a part of my emotions? Or have I just toughened up in a weird way?

Not being able to answer your own question, you finished your shower and stepped out. You dried yourself off and started working with your hair before you heard it. Your ringtone.

You checked the number... and it bared a striking resemblance to the number the BLU Medic gave you.