Figure you out
Figuring them out… that’s all he could think about. Sure, he learned their favorite bands, their favorite color, those little books they read thinking no one knew, studying their expressions when anyone spoke, observing their every single movement… following the little sergeant as they went about their days like it was all he lived for. Their stupid significant other… they were a damning reminder the sergeant wasn’t his… yet.
His presence was like a shadow they never saw, looming over them but never seen. Learning it all… dedicating days to ensuring they were always in sight… sacrificing nights of sleep to watch them from the window. It was like a tumor, growing… gnawing at his insides as a rabid beast would a meal.
Konig felt a hole burning in his throat from the vitriol he had to choke down when their partner would come to call. They knew nothing of his sergeant. Stupidly choosing the table right beside his as he pretended to type up reports and the like on his laptop. Yes, he was typing something up. But it was not at all work related.
As the partner held out a bouquet of flowers, he was thankful for his sniper hood as it hid his sneer. Quickly returning to his laptop to hide his reaction, not before he caught a glimpse of Reader… wouldn’t have caught it if he hadn’t trained himself to notice every single detail of their expressions. The twitch of their brow, the pause before giving a big smile.
-You’re faking… you hate roses… you think they’re cliché… why do you act like this? You like Dahlias… black dahlias… I remember, *Schatz*…-
‘Got you a ticket to that artist, hopefully you will have leave then so we can go together, Honey.’ The way he said it… Konig knew he had gotten the tickets in good faith.
-Oh, how stupid is he? You hate rap… you like indie bands because you had a phase in high school… you like rock because it reminds you of nights at home with your parents… you like old country… quit pretending… he doesn’t know you, not like I do…-
By the end of the hours long visit with Reader’s partner, Konig had a pages long rant of the incident typed out on his laptop. He reread it over and over. Why was reader still with this partner? He didn’t know them like he did. He knew what they liked….
The truth was that he didn’t even think Reader’s partner knew them. Talking so incessantly about *his* dreams, *His* friends, *His* accomplishments that Reader didn’t even get to speak about what they’d done. Oh, what Konig would have done just to have the sweet Sergeant utter a single word to him, to acknowledge him… he felt like a pathetic fool, vying for the attention of a soldier who didn’t even know he existed. This is what reader reduced him to… and honestly? He didn’t care.
He was the one who got to see them at their most vulnerable… at their most confident. He was the one there when they took their first life in the field, when they went through the stages of acceptance. He saw them in that primal state of protective instinct for their team, the look in their eyes when they did all they could to save a fallen comrade. In his eyes, they’d never looked so perfect…
He never could understand why a civilian would bother with a relationship with soldier if they couldn’t cope with the fact that a soldier’s job wasn’t all flags and salutes. The Colonel wanted to feel sorry… to feel bad that the man had left her… but he couldn’t. All he could feel was a sense of excitement, of hope and elation. ‘You killed someone. I can’t get past that… I’m sorry.’ That was all he knew of the call with Reader’s call to their partner after the fact.
Konig had been the one to comfort them, savoring the feeling of holding them for that moment. Doing all he could to ease the pain they felt… some twisted part of him enjoying how they clung to him for security. This hug was so much longer than the ones Reader ever shared with their partner. His gloved hands instinctively rubbing at her back, caressing their hair as he spoke comforting words.
-It’s okay, *Mein Schatz*… it’s okay…-
Murmuring sweet words to make them stop shuddering and sobbing. Glaring daggers at any of the others who dared come close to the sergeant during this time of vulnerability. He could imagine himself holding them in a different setting, wooing them with the knowledge he’d gathered these past months. He’d be a much better partner than the former ever could be, more attentive, more supportive. The feeling of them in his arms was almost too much… the murmurs turning from words of comfort to the things he’d longed to say since the first time he watched them.
-I could love you so much better than he could… loving you… is easy… and it’s what I’m made for, *Schatz*… just say the word and I am yours…-
