Drabble Challenge for: wonacoconut
Drabbles requested by wonacoconut for The Drabble Challenge
Title: Lunch Break
Rating: PG
Prompt: Fast food
The day was hot and humid, but every day in Bolivia was hot and humid. They were starting to blur together for Clay. Sitting outside the tacoria in the noonday sun was not his idea of a good time, but everyone was on their lunch break and they needed to touch base at least once a week.
Looking at the faces of his men, Clay saw a much more subdued group. Jensen was still rambling away but the excitement in his tone never reached his eyes. Pooch kept reaching up and fingering his wedding ring between bites. Roque and Cougar weren’t saying anything, but that wasn’t new for Cougar. It was for Roque though and Clay didn’t know what to make of it. He didn’t know what to make of any of his guys anymore.
Lunch ended with them pooling their money and then heading back to their jobs. He was a bit surprised when Cougar came up and fixed him with a look.
“We got this, boss.”
---
Title: War Games
Rating: PG
Prompt: Long Distance
Clay’s best kept secret was his love of chess. His grandpa, a man he vaguely remembered, taught him to play. When life at home got too crazy Clay would retreat to a local park and watch the old timers play. By the time he joined the Army he was really good, better than good. It was a skill that got him through every op he was ever part of and every op he ever ran. He was always twelve steps ahead.
When he was the planning stages of a mission he thought of his men as pieces and the mission the game board. The point was to get to checkmate, to use his men in the most effective method to gain ground and take out the King. He picked the sort of movements he needed from his men before each mission.
“Cougs,” Clay called him over to the maps and diagrams of their latest op. “Where do you want to be?”
The sniper carefully considered everything and then pointed to a rooftop.
“Then that’s where you’ll be.”
His grandpa had told him once that sometimes you need to let the pieces tell you where they want to be.
---
Title: Trust
Rating: PG
Prompt: Fixed
After the op in Afghanistan, listening to what Cougar was telling him about what was down in those tunnels, Clay seriously considered sending Cougar in for a psych eval. There was a look in Cougar’s eyes that screamed early warning signs of PTSD. They all had that look at times but it hit Cougar the hardest.
He stopped talking except for a word thrown out here and there, maybe sometimes a phrase. He started sitting just a little apart from them all and cleaned his guns with almost ritualistic movements. Clay watched from a distance, always checking to see how close to cracking his sniper was. He didn’t want something to go wrong.
He wouldn’t say Cougar recovered, not fully. He still didn’t talk but the look in his eyes slowly faded to what Clay considered manageable. He had held off on the eval because he knew he could always trust Cougar to take care of himself.
---
Title: Sneaking Around
Rating: G
Prompt: Ice Cream
New Hampshire was going through some sort of freak heat wave, where the humidity was cranked up high and at night with the crickets chirruping Clay was uncomfortably reminded of Bolivia. Sleep escaped him sometimes, so he moved quietly through Jensen’s sister’s house to the kitchen where the floor was cold against his feet and he could get a beer.
He was a bit surprised when he heard something clinking around there, but not terribly surprised to see Jensen’s niece standing on a chair, an ice cream tub tucked underneath her arm. She looked at him, eyes wide and innocent.
“Hi, Mr. Clay,” she whispered sheepishly. “I was uh…”
“Just going to share, right?”
---
Title: Disciplinary Action
Rating: G
Prompt: Weeds
After dragging Jensen farther off the field, Clay let Cougar lead him off. For a guy who didn’t talk much Cougar really knew how to get Jensen back to a reasonably calm level. The game, which had pretty much dissolved into chaos, was slowly getting back in order. All the girls were finding their way back onto the field except for one.
“Is he going to be okay?” Jensen’s niece asked, looking over where Jensen was gesticulating to Cougar about conspiracies and sports statistics.
“Just had too much cotton candy, too much sugar,” Clay said, still laughing on the inside about Jensen’s little outburst.
Stephanie sighed heavily and glared slightly. “Mom told you not to let him have sugar.”
He held up his hands, admitting that yes, it was his fault. He had Cougar take it away too late.
---
Title: Lunch Break
Rating: PG
Prompt: Fast food
The day was hot and humid, but every day in Bolivia was hot and humid. They were starting to blur together for Clay. Sitting outside the tacoria in the noonday sun was not his idea of a good time, but everyone was on their lunch break and they needed to touch base at least once a week.
Looking at the faces of his men, Clay saw a much more subdued group. Jensen was still rambling away but the excitement in his tone never reached his eyes. Pooch kept reaching up and fingering his wedding ring between bites. Roque and Cougar weren’t saying anything, but that wasn’t new for Cougar. It was for Roque though and Clay didn’t know what to make of it. He didn’t know what to make of any of his guys anymore.
Lunch ended with them pooling their money and then heading back to their jobs. He was a bit surprised when Cougar came up and fixed him with a look.
“We got this, boss.”
---
Title: War Games
Rating: PG
Prompt: Long Distance
Clay’s best kept secret was his love of chess. His grandpa, a man he vaguely remembered, taught him to play. When life at home got too crazy Clay would retreat to a local park and watch the old timers play. By the time he joined the Army he was really good, better than good. It was a skill that got him through every op he was ever part of and every op he ever ran. He was always twelve steps ahead.
When he was the planning stages of a mission he thought of his men as pieces and the mission the game board. The point was to get to checkmate, to use his men in the most effective method to gain ground and take out the King. He picked the sort of movements he needed from his men before each mission.
“Cougs,” Clay called him over to the maps and diagrams of their latest op. “Where do you want to be?”
The sniper carefully considered everything and then pointed to a rooftop.
“Then that’s where you’ll be.”
His grandpa had told him once that sometimes you need to let the pieces tell you where they want to be.
---
Title: Trust
Rating: PG
Prompt: Fixed
After the op in Afghanistan, listening to what Cougar was telling him about what was down in those tunnels, Clay seriously considered sending Cougar in for a psych eval. There was a look in Cougar’s eyes that screamed early warning signs of PTSD. They all had that look at times but it hit Cougar the hardest.
He stopped talking except for a word thrown out here and there, maybe sometimes a phrase. He started sitting just a little apart from them all and cleaned his guns with almost ritualistic movements. Clay watched from a distance, always checking to see how close to cracking his sniper was. He didn’t want something to go wrong.
He wouldn’t say Cougar recovered, not fully. He still didn’t talk but the look in his eyes slowly faded to what Clay considered manageable. He had held off on the eval because he knew he could always trust Cougar to take care of himself.
---
Title: Sneaking Around
Rating: G
Prompt: Ice Cream
New Hampshire was going through some sort of freak heat wave, where the humidity was cranked up high and at night with the crickets chirruping Clay was uncomfortably reminded of Bolivia. Sleep escaped him sometimes, so he moved quietly through Jensen’s sister’s house to the kitchen where the floor was cold against his feet and he could get a beer.
He was a bit surprised when he heard something clinking around there, but not terribly surprised to see Jensen’s niece standing on a chair, an ice cream tub tucked underneath her arm. She looked at him, eyes wide and innocent.
“Hi, Mr. Clay,” she whispered sheepishly. “I was uh…”
“Just going to share, right?”
---
Title: Disciplinary Action
Rating: G
Prompt: Weeds
After dragging Jensen farther off the field, Clay let Cougar lead him off. For a guy who didn’t talk much Cougar really knew how to get Jensen back to a reasonably calm level. The game, which had pretty much dissolved into chaos, was slowly getting back in order. All the girls were finding their way back onto the field except for one.
“Is he going to be okay?” Jensen’s niece asked, looking over where Jensen was gesticulating to Cougar about conspiracies and sports statistics.
“Just had too much cotton candy, too much sugar,” Clay said, still laughing on the inside about Jensen’s little outburst.
Stephanie sighed heavily and glared slightly. “Mom told you not to let him have sugar.”
He held up his hands, admitting that yes, it was his fault. He had Cougar take it away too late.
---