After an overemotional hug, we distanced ourselves again, though Danny continued to cry and cling to .
"You are a disgrace to the military!" A stern-voiced older man suddenly appeared out of nowhere and pulled Danny away from , while Omar and Jordan laughed.
The man with short gray hair and a tall, muscular build was also in a military uniform, though he had a bunch of badges on his chest.
"Staff Sergeant McAlister." He nodded at , not letting go of the crying piece of misery he held onto.
I nodded and introduced myself before looking questioningly at my friends.
"Oh, these guys deserted for the second ti in a few weeks, so I ca to bring them back." The staff sergeant explained, and I chuckled.
"Besides, I wanted to speak with you, Mr. Devin." His eyes surprisingly found Henry as he let go of Danny.
The big table was closer to us, so for this or whatever other reason, the two big n decided to go to the children’s table to sit down, starting to talk quietly.
I really wished I could take a photograph of that scene, and why the heck does this old military guy even want to talk to Henry?
"Co here." Jordan pulled to the big round table and sat down; Omar sat on my other side, and Danny sat directly in my lap, hugging , still crying. I would have pushed him away, but maybe I had grown too soft after not seeing them for so long, though it was way longer for them, so I let him be and patted his back.
"The Sarge wanted to recruit Henry since he read about him in the newspaper. He said, ’Instead of you failures, we need soone with morals like this’." Jordan started with gossip and laughed.
"Why is he so interested?" That Sarge hadn’t even seen Henry’s real powers, and as far as I knew, nobody knew about the shadowy smoke he could emit.
"Are you kidding? You two were all over the internet as the saviors of the South District! It was crazy; nearly everyone from our old class ssaged us to ask about you, though that was during the ti you were still missing." Jordan leaned forward to explain.
Omar nodded, and Danny sniffled, also nodding against my shoulder.
"Oh, right." Again, no internet. I have never really seen the sensation that my imprisonnt had caused, besides a few articles when I woke up, because I was imprisoned, and the sa is true for my new savior identity, because, again, I am inside this center without a phone.
"How about you guys? How have you been?" I asked, and Danny, who had just cald down, started to cry again.
"The military is nice and all, but the rules are out of this world!" Jordan complained.
"Four-thirty, we have to wake up." Omar nodded, desolation written on his face.
"Why are you complaining? You co from a military family." I laughed, and Omar put his hand over his heart as if I had hurt him deeply by confronting him with that fact.
"Luckily, because of his grandpa and dad, we did land in the sa unit."
"What about you? Fuck... Two fucking years, bro. What the hell?" Jordan ran a hand through his short hair.
"What happened?" Omar also asked.
"It wasn’t as long for , not even two months or so. The parallel worlds have fucking ti differences."
"Did you get your tattoos there?" Omar asked, and Danny loosened his hug upon hearing that, looking at my throat in wonder.
"That looks so cool; I also want the sa tattoos." He placed his paw on my Adam’s apple, and I swatted it away.
"Stop the touchy-feely shit."
Danny whined in offense and went back to hugging .
"Yeah, in the last one. There is so fucking much to tell, but it’s difficult in here." I told them.
"We already know the gist anyway," Jordan waved it off.
"We talked with Henry in these two months, but your grandma told us most. Oh, she called our quarters yesterday, demanding that we tell you the tattoos looked ugly and you should get rid of them." He finished while falling into a laughing fit, with the other guys and chiming in.
"I got my whole upper body done, and arms too."
"I wanna see, go and strip." Jordan said, dead serious, and Danny nodded again.
"No fucking way; you have way too creepy eyes right now." I laughed and sighed, feeling all choked up again—damn, I missed exchanging bullshit with them.
"Are you alright?" Omar asked after a little pause.
"Yeah." I averted my eyes.
"Thanks for coming here."
"We missed you." Danny said, again tearing up.
"Mhm. I... too." We all went silent again when the sarge suddenly peeled Danny away again, and Henry took a chair and placed it next to mine. He slouched in his seat and put an arm on my backrest while I wiped Danny’s tears away in disgust.
"Hey! Don’t be so an," Danny protested while looking at , before his eyes wandered to Henry.
He wanted to co closer again, but the Sarge held him back.
"I would love to have you in my unit as well." The old man said while looking at .
"I’m in here for five years." I shrugged.
"FIVE YEARS?" Jordan blurted out.
"For WHAT?"
"Why?" Danny wiped his face only to cry more—this guy was really a lost cause.
The Sarge still held the back of his collar, shaking him.
"I cut off the dick of so dude in prison." I drawled out lazily.
"Damn..." Omar said.
"I understand." The Sarge nodded, looking absolutely chill with hearing that. Well, inside prison, why the fuck would you do sothing like this if it wasn’t to save your own innocence?
Jordan looked at worriedly.
"Nothing happened because I acted swiftly; don’t worry." I assured them while feeling Henry’s hand behind fiddling with my hair.
My friend’s eyes suddenly wandered to him, turning strange.
"We’ll have to go." the Sarge announced.
"Whyyy sooo soooon?" Danny complained before being shaken again by the Sarge.
"You could have gotten into a lot of trouble if I hadn’t covered you." The stern voice of soone in the military silenced any more whining with ease.
"Okay, don’t go and desert again. I’m fine here; you can call ." I stood up, and Jordan and Omar nodded before the latter elbowed the forr.
"Oh. Can I talk to you for a second?" Jordan took to the side.
"What’s up?" I asked, feeling blue eyes staring at a few steps away.
"So... Elisa moved back to our city because her brother was enlisted as well, and she contacted us a month ago. She felt really bad for doubting you and wants to see you. I didn’t tell her anything, but I think she will find a way to co visit you."
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