Chapter Text
“Alright, what's wrong. You seem nervous.” Church said irritably to Caboose, who was pacing nervously near him and next to Andy and Doc.
“What if Tucker is contagious? I do not want to catch pregnancy.” Caboose said, his voice trembling a little. Church rolled his eyes at Caboose’s stupidity. Doc cast his gaze down, and Andy snickered a little under his breath.
“Hey, no one is pregnant.” Church said, exasperated. Doc made a sardonic noise behind Church. “And seriously, Caboose, when I get done with this... we gotta have a little talk man. There's a book I've got that we can read together.” Church sighed as he talked to Caboose, the big dumb blue idiot that he was. Stupid rookie.
“I'd like that.” Caboose said shyly back to Church. Church blushed underneath his helmet. Doc smiled to himself underneath his helmet. God, the two of them were gay. Not, of course, like he was anyone to talk...
* * * *
Caboose furrowed his brow in thought as he stared at the front cover of the book, trying to decipher what it meant. Changing Bodies, Changing Minds the cover read. Church sat next to Caboose on the gray sofa in the barracks at Blue Base. Any reasonable person would see how noticeably bored and irritated Church was at Caboose's confusion. But Caboose was not a reasonable person. Not even fucking close.
"Church," Caboose asked in a small voice after a moment. Church was silent, looking over at Caboose with an annoyed expression. "Church, what does the title mean?"
"Seriously?" Church growled. "How dumb are you? Taking a fucking guess, moron."
"Changing bodies.... oh! I think I know, Church! It is about... shapeshifting!" Caboose smiled at Church, pushing his blond hair our of his eyes to look at Church with a hopeful expression.
"Jesus Christ, you are fucking stupid!" Church said, rolling his eyes but looking at Caboose all the same with a look of... fondness? No, that wasn't the right word. Tolerance, that was it. He looked over with an expression of tolerance.
Caboose's hair was ruffled messily from running his hands through his hair, something that Caboose would do often whenever he was confused by something. He almost looked, Church hated to admit, like he didn't want to punch his fucking face in. Caboose was leaning back into the cushions, his tan, toned arms bare in the dark blue tank top that he usually wore underneath his armor. The tank top matched the color of his eyes and holy shit Church hated himself for even seeing that in the first place.
"It's not about shape shifters," Caboose decided next to Church, who was physically restraining himself from punching Caboose in the mouth to get him to shut up. "Church..." Caboose ventured after a moment.
"What?" Church said irritably.
"Will you... will you help me with this book, Church?"
"Don't you know how to read, you fucking idiot?" Church growled. Caboose nodded.
"Yes. I read a lot in training. There was this one book with a lot of pictures about a kitten and some-"
"You know what, Caboose? I don't care about your story. I will help you read the stupid book. Since you obviously can't do it."
"Thank you, Church!" Caboose grinned at Church, and Church sighed, running a hand over his dark stubble. He pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his sweatpants and dug around for a lighter.
"God, I'm going to regret this, aren't I?"