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It was just after one in the morning and Force Recon Team Sidewinder were holed up in a room in Spain for the next thirty-six hours with nothing to do but drink and embarrass each other. They were working their way through a case of Grady moonshine courtesy of Ty’s grandfather.
“Who’s turn is it?” Owen asked. He was a few shots in, but still seemed lucid and unaffected.
“It’s mine.” Eli grabbed the bottle from the middle of the table and proceeded to refill the empty shot glasses sitting in front of his teammates. Once finished he put the bottle back in the middle of the table, grinned and rubbed his hands together. “Okay, this is a good one. Never have I ever kissed another guy.”
To Ty’s surprise Nick immediately grabbed the glass in front of him and downed his shot. Digger rolled his eyes and drank his shot soon after. Ty’s cheeks heated as he downed the shot in front of him. He didn’t look up from the table for a long moment as the room fell silent.
“Seriously?” Owen’s judgement-laced voice cracked through the silence like the chambering of a shotgun round.
Eli smacked the back of his head. “Shut up, asshole.”
Kelly snickered.
“So what? It was Mardi Gras!” Digger slapped the table before pointing at Owen. “You can’t tell me if the right woman came along when you were lit up at Mardi Gras saying that she’d sleep with you if you kissed her friend that you wouldn’t stick your tongue in her friend’s mouth regardless of who it was.”
Owen folded his arms as he stared back at Digger. Eventually he nodded which made Digger throw up his hands in triumph.
“What about you, Lucky? Six?” Kelly asked. “Is that how it happened for you two?”
Nick gave him a patient smile and shook his head. “No, I don’t really care what a person has got going on under their clothes. If they’re hot, then they’re hot.”
All eyes focused on Ty and he shifted in his seat.
Ty cleared his throat and nodded at Nick. “What he said.”
“No shit,” Digger nodded.
Owen’s eyebrows raised. “You two are twice the whores we thought you were, aren’t you?”
Ty looked at Nick. They both started laughing and nodded.
“Well I have never slept with another dude,” Digger said after he finished refilling the three empty shot glasses.
Ty and Nick both shrugged then down their shots in unison.
Kelly tilted his head. “Wait, but we’ve all shared beds with each other.”
Nick chuckled. “That’s not what he meant, Doc.”
“How does that even work anyway?” Kelly asked.
Owen patted his shoulder. “Lucky can give you a lesson in gay sex later, because I don’t wanna hear it.”
Nick rolled his eyes at Owen then turned to Kelly with a wink and a smile. “We’ll talk.”
Nick grabbed the bottle and refilled his and Ty’s empty glasses. He stared at the table thoughtfully for a moment then threw a hesitant glance in Ty’s direction. Something in Nick’s eyes made Ty shiver in a way he never thought he would in relation to his best friend.
“I’ve never slept with another Marine.” Nick said as he held Ty’s gaze.
Ty snorted and downed his shot.
Two other glasses echoed his as he put it back on the table. Ty and Nick looked at Eli and Kelly. The two men across the table grinned at each other and exchanged high-fives.
“What?” Kelly asked when he saw that Nick and Ty were staring at them. “Marine chicks are hot.”
Nick smiled and shook his head. He nudged Ty with his elbow. “You’re up, Ty.”
Ty giggled, sloshing the moonshine over the side of Eli’s glass. “Batter’s up.”
“Oh hell, Ty’s almost done for,” Owen said with a disapproving frown.
“Hey,” Ty said as he waved the bottle in Owen’s direction. “You…are totally right.”
“Come on, Ty, say your piece before you end up giggling too much to talk,” Eli said.
Ty flipped him off with a grin and Eli returned the gesture.
Ty hummed thoughtfully for a moment. Those last few shots were making it hard to focus. He thought of the look he’d seen in Nick’s eyes and an ache settled in his chest. “Never have I ever been in love.”
Nick gave him a sad smile before taking his shot. Ty noticed Digger and Kelly, who was newly married, also drank their shots. Ty shook off the melancholy threatening to wrap him up in its embrace. He slapped Owen on the shoulder while Owen refilled the empty glasses.
“You’re next, Ozone.”
Owen snorted. He dropped the bottle back onto the center of the table and turned to Ty with a wicked grin. “I’ve never wanted to kiss another guy.”
Ty pointed at him. “Hey, fuck you. You’re trying to give me alcohol poisoning, aren’t you?”
Owen chuckled.
“I’m not sure this shit qualifies as alcohol, Six. I think this is rocket fuel,” Digger said as frowned at the full glass in front of him.
“Hey. My grandpa made this.”
“Drink your rocket fuel, Ty,” Nick said as he drank down his shot.
Ty glared at him before downing his shot.
“Really, Kelly?” Owen asked as Kelly dropped his empty glass to the table.
Ty thought he caught a hopeful expression on Nick’s face for a moment, but when he blinked again he decided he’d hallucinated it.
Across the table Kelly shrugged as he refilled the glasses. “Sure, everyone gets drunk and horny once in a while.”
Owen frowned. “Huh.”
Kelly lifted his full glass. “As your corpsman I am making an executive decision to cut Ty off after this next shot. I’m pretty sure he’s going to be a giggling fool for at least the next twelve hours as it is.”
Ty snickered. He slapped a hand over his mouth in a futile attempt to keep his laughter quiet. The rest of the team shook their heads.
“Let’s make this one a toast,” Kelly continued. Team Sidewinder picked up their shot glasses, holding them high. “I have never felt more loved or more at home than when I’m with all of you. I love you guys.”
“Hoorah!” They all answered as they clinked their glasses together and downed their last shots.