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[printfogey.livejournal.com]

Title: Saviour
Rating: G. Or very light PG
Pairing: Coby/Helmeppo
Word Count: 300
Prompt: The one and only
Spoilers/setting: Setting is vague. No real spoilers beyond Coby's and Helmeppo's appearance in Water7.



It was just embarrassing.

Helmeppo was supposed to be good at keeping his composure, getting back at slights later in various underhanded ways. So what was the deal with clenching his fists so hard they grew white, then exploding at some jerkass recruit who made fun of Coby’s attitude a little too much, calling it naïve and goody-two-shoes? It wasn’t like Helmeppo didn’t needle his friend about that stuff himself, fairly often.

And why react so strongly when a fleeting rumour made him think Coby would get transferred while he wouldn’t, sudden panic making him shaky and nauseous, not to mention the overwhelming flood of relief when the rumour was proven false? A tough, up-and-coming Marine shouldn’t be so emotional and so dependent on a single person, even when they were your best friend.

It probably was dumb, but he couldn’t stop that feeling – the sense that out of all the people in the world, he was the only one who truly trusted and believed in him, Helmeppo (Garp seemed to believe in his potential, which was honouring and terrifying enough yet not quite the same thing) - the only one he, in return, felt he could fully trust and throw everything away for, if he truly had to.

And as long as Coby was there, looking at him like he had some real worth, he felt he could go on and act as if he thought so, too. Somehow, that had become the ground he stood on.

When Coby first took that extra step beyond friendship, one hesitant hand touching his collarbone and moving upwards slowly, what Helmeppo first felt hadn’t been joy or lust, but fear – fear he’d screw this up and lose what was most important. But finally he’d followed in the wake of Coby’s courage. Again.