TF141 x Hybrid!You | "Roadside Lessons" | Part 28
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The duffel sat open on his desk. It wasn't much. A change of clothes, field gear, a med kit he didn't think he'd need but packed anyway, a second sleeping bag, weather gear, and camping supplies.
"Right." He muttered under his breath. "Simple." A few days out in the wilderness, quiet, no interference. Just him and...
"Ah." Price stood beside the driver's side door, keys in hand, staring at the passenger seat. Nikolai was already sitting there comfortable and settled. Like he'd planned to be.
One arm slung casually over the door, sunglasses on and not even pretending this wasn't deliberate.
"Why..." Price said slowly. "Are you in my truck?"
Nikolai didn't move. Didn’t even turn his head. "You are going camping, yes? I am coming."
Nikolai finally looked at him then, calm as anything. "But I was invited."
Price went still. "By who."
Nik glanced back at the backseat.
Price shut his eyes, slow inhale, slow exhale. He turned his head.
In the back seat, Y/n had claimed the right side near the window, half curled but angled toward the sunlight pouring in. Their eyes were closed, ears relaxed, tail loosely draped along the seat.
'Innocent. Absolutely, completely, not innocent.' Price looked back at Nik.
Nik gave him a small, satisfied smile.
Price muttered under his breath. "...It's supposed to be me and Y/n."
"I'll improve the experience." Nik replied.
"You'll sabotage the experience." Price scowled.
Nikolai considered that. "Little bit."
Price stared at him another second before opening the driver's side door with visible resignation. "If you play music without asking, I'm leaving you at a gas station."
Nik waved one hand vaguely. "You say this now. But by hour three, you will beg for entertainment."
Price started the engine. "I'd rather drive off a cliff."
From the backseat, without opening their eyes, Y/n spoke quietly. "Can we stop if we see cows."
Price glanced in the mirror. "Why?"
Nikolai nodded solemnly. "Reasonable."
Price looked between both of them and immediately understood he'd lost control of this trip before it had even started.
Deployment leave felt strange after months of routine. No radios crackling in the background. No briefing schedules. Just open road. The truck rolled steadily along the highway while late afternoon sunlight poured gold across the dashboard.
Y/n had eventually shifted fully into the corner of the backseat, face tipped toward the warmth coming through the window. One ear flicked every now and then whenever they heard something interesting.
Price glanced in the rearview mirror once. 'Still asleep. Or pretending to be. Hard to tell sometimes.'
Nikolai, meanwhile, had made himself entirely too comfortable.
"You know..." He said conversationally. "This is first family road trip."
Price's grip tightened slightly on the wheel. "Say that again and I'm turning this truck around."
Nik smiled faintly. "Ah. So defensive. Very paternal."
Price bit the inside of his cheek hard enough to stop the response before it left his mouth.
From the backseat: "What does paternal mean?"
Price closed his eyes briefly before looking back at the road.
Nikolai looked delighted. "It means." Nik said helpfully. "Your papa is-"
"Don't." Price warned immediately.
Nik ignored him. "-Behaving like father animal who does not realize he is father's animal."
Y/n: "You're a father to an animal?"
Both Nik and Price turn in their seats, giving Y/n a glance.
_
The first stop happened because Y/n spotted a roadside fruit stand. "Stop."
Price barely reacted. "No."
Nikolai leaned casually against the window. "Captain. They said magic word."
Price sighed through his nose and pulled into the gravel lot.
The stand itself was tiny. Fresh peaches, strawberries, homemade jams, flowers in metal buckets, and hand painted signs that looked like they'd been there since the seventies.
Y/n stood very still beside one table, staring.
Price noticed immediately. "See something you want?"
Y/n: "They're just… here."
Price frowned faintly. "Aye?"
Y/n gestured vaguely. "People just leave fruit outside."
Nik smiled slightly behind them. "This is called trust."
Y/n looked deeply suspicious of that concept.
An older woman running the stand noticed them hovering and smiled warmly. "You three passing through?"
Price answered automatically. "Something like that."
Y/n stared at the peaches like they'd never seen so many at once.
The woman noticed. "Go ahead, sweetheart." She held one out. "Try it."
Y/n looked immediately at Price first. Permission.
Price nodded once. "Go on."
Y/n accepted the peach carefully with both hands like they'd been handed something important. Then bit into it. Their ears shot up instantly.
Price looked back in time to see genuine betrayal on Y/n's face.
"That is usually how fruit works." Price said dryly.
Y/n looked horrified. "Why didn't anyone tell me."
The woman behind the stand looked openly charmed now. "Honey, where have you been all your life?"
Price answered before Y/n could. "Complicated places."
The woman accepted that answer easier than she should have.
Y/n quietly picked up another peach.
Price paid for six.
__
The next stop was a small roadside diner two towns later.
Y/n learned that civilian waitresses would call you "sweetheart" regardless of rank or combat ability. And when their food arrived, Y/n stared openly at Price's plate. Then at Nikolai's. Then back at their own. It was not subtle. It was a full investigative comparison.
Price cut into his food. "What?"
Y/n pointed without hesitation. "Why do you have more?"
Price didn't even look up. "I don't."
Nikolai leaned forward slightly, inspecting the plates. "Ah." He nodded once. "This is American portion sizing."
Y/n frowned. "Is it wrong?"
Price exhaled through his nose. "It's unnecessary."
Nikolai, entirely unhelpful, added, "It's the emotional compensation for hunger that does not exist."
Price shot him a look. "Don't start."
Y/n stared at their plate again, then very carefully at Price's. "So yours is… normal."
Price hesitated. Just a fraction. "…Yes."
Nikolai immediately hummed. "He's lying."
Price didn't even deny it. He just cut into his food harder than strictly necessary.
Nikolai leaned back in his chair, looking far too pleased with himself as he watched Price aggressively attempt to disassemble his own meal. Then, casually, he tapped his fork against the edge of his plate. "You know, Captain-"
Price didn't look up. "Eat your food."
__
By the time the sun started lowering, the truck was quieter.
Y/n had settled back into the rear seat again, this time awake and watching the scenery pass by with slower, calmer interest than before.
Occasionally they asked questions.
Why do people put giant fake animals outside restaurants.
Why was there a store only for mattresses.
Why did civilians willingly drive tiny cars.
Nikolai answered every question with complete confidence whether the answer was correct or not.
Price had to intervene three separate times. "No, Y/n, pigeons are not government employees."
"They watch." Nikolai defended.
Price glance at Nik before looking back at the road. "Stop teaching them conspiracy theories."
Nikolai spread his hands. "I teach possibilities."
Price: "They are pigeons."
Nik: "They are suspicious pigeons."
From the backseat, Y/n looked thoughtful.
Price immediately pointed a finger toward the rearview mirror. "No."
Y/n blinked. "I didn't say anything."
Price: "You were about to."
Then a sharp inhale. Not a normal one. A full body gasp.
Y/n was halfway over the seat now, face pressed to the window. "COWS!!!"
Nikolai twisted around immediately. There were, in fact, cows. A whole field of them. Black cows, brown cows. One particularly large cow standing near a fence looking profoundly unconcerned with the existence of mankind.
Price didn't even hesitate as truck rolled onto the shoulder beside the fence line. Before Price had even fully parked, Y/n scampered out of the truck and launched themselves onto the gravel.
Price opened his door. "Y/N!"
They were already halfway to the fence.
The cows, meanwhile, continued existing with complete indifference.
Price stepped out of the truck. "Don't touch the fence!"
Y/n either didn't hear him or chose not to. Neither possibility improved his mood. Their tail was practically wagging behind them as they hurried toward the pasture.
Price started after them. "Y/n!"
Price immediately pointed. "Do. Not. Touch-"
Too late. Y/n grabbed the wire.
Y/n achieved a height previously thought impossible. They launched backwards with a startled screech, ears puffed, tail exploding into twice its normal size. For one glorious second they appeared to forget how gravity worked. Then they landed on their backside in the grass. The cows looked mildly interested.
Nikolai chuckled from inside the truck, slapping the outside of the door. "Oh no." He kept laughing. "Oh, that was beautiful."
Price pinched the bridge of his nose. "Nikolai."
Nik: "I warned nobody because this outcome was funnier."
Y/n: "I didn't know it was electric."
Price pinched the bridge of his nose. "That's why I said don't touch it."
Y/n: "I thought you meant normal don't touch it."
Price: "What other kind of don't touch it is there???"
Y/n with a blank face, glancing at the fence and back at Price. "The lying kind."
Nikolai completely lost it again. "Cub is so funny." Nikolai wiped a tear from the corner of one eye.
Y/n cautiously approached the fence again.
Price immediately pointed. "No."
Y/n: "I wasn't going to touch it."
Price: "You were thinking about it."
Behind the fence, one of the cows slowly lifted its head and stared at Y/n. Y/n stared back. "Can I pet one?"
"Because it's not yours."
"You know." Nik said thoughtfully. "This is actually good lesson."
Price groaned immediately. "Here we go."
Nikolai ignored him. "You see cow."
Nik: "You receive consequences."
Nikolai nodded sagely. "This is how wisdom is formed."
Y/n considered that. "...The wisdom is don't touch electric fence."
Y/n pointed at the cow. "And if I want the cow?"
Nikolai smiled. "Then first you learn where the gate is."
That actually made Y/n pause. A slow, thoughtful expression crossed their face.
Price watched the realization happen. The fence wasn't there to stop them forever. It was there to make them use the proper path. 'Huh.' For once, Nikolai had accidentally taught something useful.
Y/n looked back at the cow. The cow looked back. Then, very solemnly, Y/n lifted a hand and waved. The cow immediately turned around and walked away.
Nikolai barked out another laugh.
Price actually felt the corner of his mouth twitch. "Rejected."
____
Elsewhere, several hundred miles away, the trip had gone very differently.
The moment the front door opened Soap has become Johnny- barely made it two steps inside before being dragged into a hug by his mother.
Johnny: "Mum, I've been here thirty seconds."
Behind Johnny, Simon quietly stepped inside carrying half the luggage. Soap's mother spotted him immediately. "Oh, Simon!"
Ghost had faced armed insurgents, enemy snipers, and explosives with less concern than the expression aimed at him. "Hello, ma'am."
Mum: "You look thin too."
Ghost accepted his fate.
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Part 29?
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