Hi could I please request Radar O’Riley x male reader it doesn’t have to be anything intricate (: if you accept this request then I thank you in advance (:
General headcanons
Pairing: Radar O'Riley x m!reader
Warnings: definitely inaccurate military descriptions, time accurate homophobia, Frank being a douchebag (what else is new tho)
A/N: I have nothing to say for myself. But I suppose late is better than never, right? Okay, I'll shut up now. Hope you enjoy!
The last thing one thinks about when getting drafted to a war happening on the other side of the globe, freshly eighteen no less, is romance. But life has a crazy way of surprising us, doesn't it?
Walter was never one to stand out. He wasn't big or strong, he wasn't particularly social or quick witted. A simple man, from a simple family. He realised pretty early on that his best chances lied in laying low and not sticking out too much.
And that has done him wonders in the 4077 unit! The administrative work he did for Colonel Blake ensured him a fairly comfortable position, one where he didn't need to go through the gruelling, and frankly traumatising, hours in the makeshift operating room and post-op. He'd gladly leave that to the professionals.
While Radar was a simple man, with simple likes, dreams and needs, he was dedicated to his work. As much as someone forcefully drafted into a war they don't want anything to do with can be, that is. And damn if he wasn't good at it.
That's why he wouldn't even notice you, if you didn't start hanging around him.
You were pretty new to the 4077 unit. You were transferred as a security officer, ensuring the people in camp, both patients and staff alike, were safe from potential attacks from the enemy, as well as making sure the supplies and equipment wouldn't get stolen for the black market or get generally tampered with.
Walter was like a breath of fresh air in the tragedy that is war. If there was one thing everybody in the camp could agree on, it was that. And when you learned about the origin of his nickname? It was only natural you were curious about the guy.
Radar didn't remember exactly when you approached him first. Of course he somewhat knew who you were, he was the one handling your transfer papers, besides Henry, who was the one who signed them barely even looking at what he was actually signing.
It just sort of became a routine, that whenever you were about to make your rounds, you'd find him first and ask him what he thought the weather was gonna be like that day.
At first, he was more than a little confused, and you could tell by the slight scrunching of his brows, and the way his lips tightened into a straight line, before he even told you that his "ability" didn't work like that.
To which you could only laugh softly, already finding this guy so endearing. "Let's put it to the test then, eh?" you'd tease him with a smile.
Once this exact conversation has repeated a few times, Walter learned to accept it. And, after a shockingly short time, you were able to see another side of his predictive quirk.
At first, he just stopped waiting for you to ask him about what the weather was going to be like. As soon as you were by his side, he said what came to his mind in that moment. Like he knew what you were going to ask even before he did. But then, it was as if he started sensing your very presence. No matter where you found him, before you could fully approach him, Walter would turn around and shoot out his weather prediction.
He could be in the mess tent, fully engrossed in conversation with Hawkeye and Trapper, or some of the nurses, and he would stop mid sentence, whip around and tell you "Partially cloudy, no wind today." To some, it would seem creepy, but not to you. Something inside your chest warmed at the thought of him getting so tuned into your presence that he'd recognise it without even having to see you.
The others, especially the surgeons, would sometimes poke fun at him for this, telling him that you've got him trained almost as well as Henry does. Of course you'd do your best to inconspicuously stand up for him, usually with a joke along the lines of him having his priorities set right, or that whatever they were talking about previously probably just wasn't that interesting.
Slowly, you two started to spend more time together. Obviously, you couldn't quite keep him company while he worked, but if you were making your rounds and Radar just happened to be free (and not tangled up in another one of Hawkeye's messes), he would join you for a bit.
You would talk about anything and everything. First it was just about your job, what exactly was the point of the route you were currently taking, how many rounds you'd make that day and how long it would take. But soon enough, the topics would get more personal. Discussions about your likes and dislikes, what music you both liked, what movies you enjoyed, favorite colours and animals. Those talks then turned to sharing childhood memories, both good ones and bad ones, and discussions about your family. You loved hearing about his mother, Edna, and from the way Walter spoke about her, it was clear he held her in high regards.
It was clear that you liked spending time with each other. For the first time in a really long while, Walter felt like he could actually be himself around someone, without the fear of being judged or ridiculed. And you? Well, seeing him happy made you happy. Besides, there was so much more to Radar than everyone gave him credit for. He was game for anything, as long as it wasn't too dangerous, highly illegal or totally immoral. He could be surprisingly sneaky and he didn't even have to try that hard. And the sass on that man was unlike anything you've ever heard. He wasn't mean or snarky often, and when he was, it was always quiet, muttered solely for himself, and then for you as well. But you swore his side remarks could rival Hawkeye's, even if nobody believed you.
The real change in your quickly blossoming...friendship...came around the time of the aniversay of the day you first met him. You'd rather get blown up in the mine field than admit you were keeping track of that though.
It wasn't a very pleasant day, the skies were seemingly dumping all of the water on planet Earth right on top of the 4077 unit, from the moment you woke up. Not to mention the weather made the front lines even more dangerous, so when the second round of choppers could be heard in the distance, no one was surprised.
But it didn't change the fact that the heavier-than-usual workload and crappy weather didn't do much to boost the morale in the camp. Everyone was soaked through to the bone, tired and rightfully grumpy. And Radar was no exception.
But when you pulled him aside after all the chaos of the day was over and you could finally attempt to relax, he didn't complain, only wordlessly following you to your tent, his eyes sparkling with curiosity behind those cute specs of his.
Before you opened the door to your tent, you told him to close his eyes. He followed your word without hesitation and you would lie if you said his complete trust in you didn't make your cheeks grow warm. Grabbing his hand softly, and ignoring the subtle shudder that ran through him, you finally lead him into your tent and towards your bed, so that he wouldn't trip over the mess made by your bunk mates.
When you told him he could open his eyes again, Radar simply blinked owlishly at the small wooden cage on top of your sheets. It was turned facing away from you both, so it didn't look like much, but before you could encourage him to check it out further, the wooden structure wheeked.
Both of you jumped at the sudden sound, Radar more so than you, only because you already knew what exactly was in the cage, but after the shock faded, which only took a second, he cautiously stepped closer to your cot. Slowly, like he couldn't believe his own eyes, he turned the cage around. You were pretty sure he stopped breathing the moment his hands touched it.
When he finally managed to peer inside, the gasp he let out made you giddy like a kid receiving their first valentine. Even though in this case, the roles were reversed. Inside the structure was a small, short haired guiney pig. The simplest kind, with brown fur and some white tufts here and there and beautiful dark beady eyes.
Radar has told you of his love for animals, especially rodents, pretty early on during your many long talks and this little girl seemed like the perfect thing to cheer him up and keep his mind off the machinery of death and destruction, of which you were all a part.
Still not saying a word, Walter slowly sat down on your cot, his hands opening the latch of the cage and pulling the small, warm body of the piggy in his arms. You shifted your weight from one foot to the other, nervously scratching the back of your neck. "Sorry if this is sudden, and I know taking care of a live animal on top of all your work is a big responsibility, so, if you think it'd be too much for you-" "I'm gonna name her Molly."
So deep in your rambling, you didn't catch the large smile spreading over the Radar's face, his eyes now full of absolute wonder and love for the small creature already happily purring in his lap.
Seeing him so happy meant more to you than you thought. Sure, you traded your army issued winter boots for the little piggy, but you would gladly put on more pairs of socks and tough it out if it meant you could keep seeing him this way.
The first thing Walter set out to do after that was making Molly a bigger cage. Which allowed you to see yet another side of your...dear friend, that no one really noticed.
When he invited you to help him set the cage up, your brain needed a second to figure out how he got the materials he needed so fast. Seeing the clear confusion that overtook your features, he quickly provided you with an explanation "The wood is mostly scrap pieces I bought off some of the locals and made a deal with one of the drivers for the wire mesh top." You could only chuckle at his innovativeness.
After that, you expected he'd need your help with actually putting the cage together. But Radar proved you wrong once again. "Why'd you invite me here if you didn't actually need any help?" you hummed from where you were lounging on his cot, your eyes tracing the way his muscles moved and constricted under his skin, as he hammered the different pieces of wood together.
Walter briefly paused in his work, his breath only a fraction heavier than normal. "Well...you know...in case I needed help." If your eyes weren't already so zeroed in on him, you'd miss the way his cheeks flushed slightly. Ultimately, you decided to let it go.
It didn't take long for you to confess after that, although the situation was a bit...messy. Radar had been raised christian and while he didn't outright reject you, it was obvious he needed to sort things out within himself first, which you totally understood.
That's how the first person who found out about your budding relationship became father Mulcahy. Walter took him aside one day, the priest immediatelly noticing the bags under his eyes, and told him he needed to talk to him, if he was free that is. "Son, there is clearly something weighing on your soul and my sole duty here is to help you all through such hardships."
Father Mulcahy took the young man to his makeshift chapel and sat with his eyes closed and hands clasped together, taking in everything Radar was telling him. He couldn't help but spill it all - his feelings, his fears, his believes and the inner turmoil the situation was causing him.
Once he was done, he was trembling with anxiety, his, and your, fate depending on the reaction of the man beside him. But father Mulcahy, after mulling over his response quietly, turned to face the young Corporal and with a steady warm hand on his shoulder and a deep, and equally as warm, look into his very soul, only said "War is a terrible thing, it destroys everything that is godly. To find someone you can truly love in such a hostile place is a beautiful thing. And there is nothing more holy than love." Walter hadn't cried like that since he was a boy.
From then on, the two of you grew even closer than before. Of course, you had to be careful while out in the open, but there were things you could do that would look like a close-knit friendship to the unasuming eye. You often spent meal times together, either sitting across from each other in the mess tent, or outside, leaning against each other, if the weather was nice enough.
Safe to say that not all eyes were unasuming. So, naturally, the next people that basically forced the admission of your relationship out of you were none other than Benjamin Hawkeye Pierce and his partner in crime, Trapper.
Radar liked to partake in the occassional game of poker every now and then and while you weren't much of a gambler, you liked to tag along with him, enjoying the banter in your small group. Poker nights were one of the few good things in this place and you learned to cherish all of them deeply.
Tonight, the game has gone on exceptionally long though. So much so that you couldn't help the yawn that slipped out of your mouth, covered by your hand. And then the way your eyelids grew heavier and heavier. And lastly the way your body slumped against Walter's, as if being pulled into him by an invisible force. Your boyfriend only adjusted the way he was sitting slightly, so you'd both be as comfortable as possible.
The air was suddenly quiet around the small table. But not tense in the way Radar was still a bit scared of, when you showed each other any form of affection while not alone. "Listen, Radar..." Hawkeye started, and for the first time, Radar could see even the silver tongue of the camp, searching for the right words "...are you...a friend of Dorothy?" the surgeon asked quietly, but the young man couldn't sense any sort of negative conotation to it. Even though he didn't really know what it was.
"I knew a Dorothy in highschool. I wouldn't say we were friends though, she never liked me much.." Radar pondered aloud and Trapper snickered. "No, Radar, we're asking because..." Trapper tried to explain as he gestured between the two of you. Radar tilted his head "What does 'this' have to do with some Dorothy?" he asked, growing more confused by the second.
"Radar, are you gay?" Hawkeye finally adressed the elephant in the room, having quickly grown tired of the way they were all dancing around the topic for the last few minutes. Walter could only suck in a sharp breath. He didn't think about labels, he only just came to terms with his feelings for you and the word still had negative meaning in his mind.
"Great, you should really learn how to make people feel comfortable when they're not in a hospital bed." Trapper chided his bunkmate, before turning back to the young man across the table "It's completely okay if you are, we just..." "Didn't know you swung that way." Hawkeye chimed in. "Yeah...I didn't either..." Walter muttered, shuffling his cards slowly.
It was a good thing Frank wasn't there at the moment, as Hawkeye pointed out after some time. "If there's someone you need to look out for, it's him and Hot Lips." As if those two were ones to talk about innapropriate relationships...
But you two were always careful when it came to the more tender moments between you. Not only were you taking things really slowly, for both Walter's sake and yours, but you left those moments for the 'privacy' of your respective tents. Unfortunately, one day Major Frank Burns decided knocking was below him when it came to his subordinates.
He barged into Radar's tent that evening like a hurricane, and his eyes landed on an otherwise candid sight - you, dozing off after a late set of rounds, your head resting on your boyfriend's thigh while he read, the hand not holding his book resting on your shoulder, his thumb absentmindedly swiping over it every now and then.
You both quickly jumped away from each other, but by that point Frank was already all up in your faces, screaming almost incoherently about the sight of you both cuddling. You couldn't make much of his berating and threats, but one word stood out to the both of you. Fraternisation.
Frank stomped his way through the camp, straight to Henry's office, where the man was just finishing the last bits of paperwork. Upon seeing his most annoying major, Henry only sighed, wishing he could be literally anywhere else in that moment. "What is it, Frank?"
"So this is how you run this camp, huh? Are you even aware of what your soldiers are doing when you're not looking??" he barked out, adrenaline still running strong through his veins. "Well, I hope they're having fun..." Henry muttered, having no clue what Frank was getting at.
"Your secretary is fraternizing with one of the security officers! I saw them snuggling in his tent!" the major revealed, his tone dripping with disbelief. "Well, if you didn't want to see that, then you should've knocked." Henry shrugged, but before he could turn back to the last paper that awaited his signature, Frank continued in his tirade. "It is completely inappropriate! They- they were entangled like only a man and woman should be! You need to report them immediately-"
The Colonel brought the palms of his hands on the table in a dull but mighty slap "I've had just enough of your whining!" he snapped back, Frank's mouth shutting with a clack of his teeth, taken aback "I'll tell you what's innapropriate! Your little rendezvous with Margaret all over the camp! If you think nobody's noticed what goes on between you two, then you're not only completely oblivious, but stupid as well. At least those two have the decency to keep their business inside of their respective tents! If there's anyone I should be reporting, it would be you."
Frank stood in place for a moment, his mouth opening and closing, like he was searching for a rebuttal, but when he found none, he turned on his heel and sped out of Henry's office.
The Colonel sighed again, signed the last paper that needed his attention and chuckled quietly "Well, at least that's two less distractions for our lovely nurses..."
