Chapter Text
Pete and Nick slouched into the mess hall at NAS Kingsville, brand-new squadron assignments in hand, and joined the line for chow. Pete glanced back down at the orders, both nervous and excited to get the hell on with doing what he’d been dreaming about his whole life. Nick looked at the orders again as well, after tapping the shoulder of the aviator who’d just tried to shove his way in front of Pete, and jerking a thumb over his shoulder to send the asshole back to his place in line. Nick grinned at the paper, and Pete knew that Nick was, like him, excited to get the hell on with it, but was also excited that their deployment date would give Nick time to go home and spend some time with his girlfriend. Pete, on the other hand, was mentally planning how to stay out of the way of the rest of the squadron while Nick wasn’t there to back him up.
Both of them seemed to emerge from their contemplation at the same time, and began chatting animatedly about getting out to the fleet, as they took up seats across from each other at the unoccupied end of the long table. They shot each other a grin, looked down at their plates, and froze, grins fading.
Nick poked the creamed chipped beef on toast apprehensively with his fork. “You gotta be frigging kidding me.”
Pete gently tilted the stuffed green pepper with the side of his fork, noting the unidentified fluid that oozed out of it. “Ewww.”
Nick flung himself backward in his chair, slinging his fork onto the table. “Thought we wouldn’t get nasty-ass deployment food until we were actually, you know… deployed.”
Pete shook his head ruefully. “There should be a UCMJ provision against serving shit on a shingle and shit in a seabag on the same plate.”
Nick shrugged, took a deep breath, and dug the side of his fork into the chipped beef. “Oh well, a short life but a merry one.”
Pete grinned, turning his plate to move the pepper away, and dug into the beef as well. “So, you headed off to see your girl for leave?”
“Oh hell yeah.” Nick grinned from ear to ear, before flicking his eyes briefly up at Pete and asking, faux-casually, “What about you? Where you headed?”
Pete let his grin morph into a lascivious smirk. “Oh, I plan to find a lovely lady and convince her to take me home for the week.”
“Oh good Lord,” Nick snorted. “Don’t you have any family to go see?”
Pete laughed, but it was a bit more brittle than before. “No, no family. But this is Texas, Nick, it’s a target-rich environment. I’m sure I can find a willing cowgirl.”
Nick laid his fork down, and just looked at Pete steadily.
Pete shrugged. “Oh well, I guess if I strike out, I’ll just stay here. There’s a movie theater in town, right?”
“I guess so.” Nick resumed eating, then after a moment tilted his head in consideration. “Here’s a better idea, if you want: come to Tennessee with me.”
“What? No way, man. Carole wants to see you, not me.”
Nick swallowed a large bite of the stuffed pepper. “In point of fact, Ensign Mitchell, it was at least partially her idea.” Off of Pete’s skeptical look, he continued. “She suggested it the other day, when I told her I’d be getting some leave.”
Pete just shook his head, and Nick put his fork down again. “Come on, Pete, it’ll be a good time. You’ve talked to her on the phone-“
“Because you kept handing it to me,” Pete snorted, sotto voce.
“-and now you’ll get to meet her in person. Come on, she’s really cool, and she’s going to love you to death. She’s got a bunch of stuff she wants to cook for us, and places she wants to take us. It’ll be fun.”
Pete put his fork down too. “Just seems like I’d be intruding.”
“You’re not intruding, you’re invited.” Nick flung his hands out to the sides. “Come on, Pete, what the hell else are you gonna do? Go bar hoppin’ in Kingsville, the armpit of Texas?”
But all Pete would say was “Maybe.”
Later that evening, from the communal phone in the rec room, Nick called Carole to let her know his leave dates, and discuss travel plans.
“So is it just you, Nicky, or are you bringing your buddy with you? Your brand new stick?”
Nick sighed. “I’m workin’ on him, honey. He doesn’t seem to have anyplace else to go, nobody to go see.”
“Nobody at all?”
“Naw. Nobody writes to him, he never calls anybody, he never mentions anyone who he might want to go see.”
“Aw, baby, that sounds so lonesome. You gotta bring him home with you. Did you invite him? What did he say?”
Nick scrubbed a hand across his forehead. “He said he didn’t want to intrude.”
Carole made a sad exhalation. “Did you ask him about his family, straight out?”
“Course I did. All he did was make jokes and change the subject.”
“Well, okay then, Nick, that settles it. You bring that boy home with you, even if you have to knock him on the head and stuff him in his seabag.”