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War fucking sucks Dave decides a few months after he first got to Vietnam. He technically already knew that, but it was sort of abstract and not really a thing that he thought about, kind of how famine sucks, but it doesn't concern Dave and is most likely never going to happen to him. So why bother thinking about it?

But now, here he is. In fucking Vietnam, and it sucks. Real bad.

The weather is horrid, unbelievably warm and either raining humid enough that it might as well be raining. Dave can't remember the last time he felt truly dry. And the bugs. The fucking bugs, big as shit and scary as fuck. Half of them are poisonous, the other half just bite of what seems as half your arm.

It's also never quiet. It's either shooting, something blowing up in the distance, or the bugs, or just people shouting and screaming in the camp.

The only upside is Klaus, if Dave hadn't gone to Vietnam, he never would have met Klaus. And Dave can't really imagine a world without Klaus anymore, can't remember what his life was even like before that strange night when he first saw him.

Not that Dave would ever tell anyone that. Talking about shit like that would be dangerous, telling anyone that he dreams about Klaus every night and that he is pretty sure he could spend the rest of his life just staring into his green and beautiful eyes and be perfectly content could possibly get him killed.

Klaus never seems to care about who listens, talking openly about all the shit he's done and flirting with everything that moves. It's almost like he isn't entirely aware that it's dangerous, or maybe he just doesn't care.

Dave's noticed that too about Klaus. He has absolutely no self-preservation skills, it terrifies Dave and makes him curse god for making him fall for someone as careless as Klaus. Because Dave doesn't think he's capable of living in a world without Klaus anymore, Klaus is like his new oxygen. Dave needs Klaus to be able to function, to breathe.

And Klaus is completely oblivious to it all. He doesn't ever notice how Dave always sticks close to him when they go, well anywhere really. Klaus didn't notice when Dave couldn't breathe for what felt like several eternities but was probably more like a minute after Klaus commented on Dave's cute butt. He doesn't notice Dave staring at him when he gets dressed. And he certainly doesn't notice when Dave cards his hands through his curly and beautiful hair when he's having a nightmare.

God fucking damnnit, Dave is so screwed. Not that he much minds.

Klaus has been in Dave's life for about two months when they get a few days of to go have fun in the city. Part of Dave is ecstatic because now he can finally relax from trying to keep Klaus alive all the time, but a bigger part is heartbroken. Because they're going to the city, and in the city there are clubs and bars and street corners with girls. And Dave is by now pretty sure that Klaus maybe kind of doesn't dislike him, but Klaus also flirts with literally everything. The other boys, the sergeants, the medics, the people they are shooting at, old ladies in villages they pass, old men in the same villages, a fucking goat. So Dave thinks that Klaus just generally flirts with everybody, paying no mind as to what that does to Dave.

So Dave is also pretty sure that Klaus is going to find a nice lady for the nights in the city and enjoy himself. Dave will then proceed to spend the rest of the time locked in a hotel room crying, it's possible that he will just stay there forever. Crying. He'll die in the hotel room and then become a ghost, forever haunting the room. Crying.

All because Klaus haven't noticed that Dave is completely fucking in love with him.

The boys all spend the day sightseeing, taking a break in their hotel rooms before heading out to a club for the night. Dave is resting on the bed, contemplating staying in for the night to save himself from having to watch Klaus with someone else, when there's a knock on the door. He gets up to see who it is and his heart starts doing flips in his chest when he sees Klaus outside looking more serious than ever. Dave quickly opens the door frowning.

"Dave, could you do something for me?" Klaus asks seriously, looking up to meet Dave's eyes.

'Yes Klaus' Dave thinks. 'Anything you want, do I need to kill someone? Do you need money? Food? I could feed you? I would literally chop my own arm off if it made you happ-

"Can you please change out of that dreadful shirt? I am begging you, my eyes are literally bleeding!" Klaus interrupts his thoughts. Dave blinks.

"You don't like my shirt?" Dave asks, completely mortified about the fact that he apparently did not have any sense of style. He adds it to the list of things he can cry about later.

"Dave, Davey. There is literally no one in the entire world who likes that shirt, its only redeeming feature is that it's very tight and very beautifully shows of all your muscles." Klaus says, and squeezes his upper arm to show his point. Dave meanwhile is trying not to pass out, because holy fucking shit, praise the lord; Klaus is touching him. Dave might have died and gone to heaven. He blinks again.

"Ehm, Dave? You alright? Did someone hit the reset button on you?" Klaus asks and gives his arm another squeeze.

Dave manages a nod. Which apparently is enough for Klaus who barges in to his room and straight for Dave's bag which he starts rifling through, presumably to find a better shirt.

"Dave?"

'Yes Klaus? Love of my life, Cactus to my desert, Apple to my pie, sun to my moon, water to my crops, plant fertilizer to my-'

"Hmm?"

Klaus snorts and sighs at the same time and Dave melts. "Are these the only clothes you have?"

"Yes." Ever so eloquently Dave, real smooth.

"Hmm" Klaus says and scrunches up his nose, "I guess your tight shirt will have to do then, because these are somehow all worse."

"Oh." Jesus Christ Dave, get it together.

"Sorry?" Dave could cry, all hope is lost. Klaus has great style, everything he wears looks amazing. He'll never like Dave now.

"Nah, don't worry about it too much Davey. Your face more than makes up for your lack of fashion" Klaus winks at him, smiling his crooked smile that Dave loves. Then he gets up and comes closer, standing right in front of Dave and just looking.

When he's this close Dave notices just about everything there is to notice about Klaus, like how he's not sober (he rarely is), and that his hands are shaking minutely, and that his eyes, though relatively focused on Dave, flickers around looking at things that aren't there.

Dave wonders if Klaus has always been like this, seeing shit, crying and screaming in his sleep, constantly high. Or maybe something happened? He rarely talks about where he came from, but sometimes he'll say something like how sleeping out here in the jungle isn't so bad compared to some of the other places he's slept. Or someone asks about an old scar on his arm "oh yeah, my father made my brother Diego use me as target practice with his knife. No biggie". Which no, wrong. Very big biggie. It makes Dave's heart ache.

Dave very badly wants to find whoever the fuck Klaus' father is and kill him. Dave also wants to hug Klaus and tell him that he'll never let anyone hurt him ever again.

After a few seconds Klaus stops staring and starts dragging Dave out of the room.

"Come on Dave! Time to hit the town! Woo!"

Klaus is fun to hang around, all the boys in their squad agrees. They all think he's batshit crazy, but something about him just makes everyone want to be his friend.

Out at the club all the boys seem to want to drink with Klaus, and Klaus complies. It makes Dave jealous even though he knows none other than him and possibly Klaus is looking for more.

Klaus, to Dave's delight, hangs around Dave. Dancing, drinking, dancing some more. And Dave starts hoping that maybe Klaus feels things for him back. They find two girls and starts dancing with them instead. Mostly to keep up appearances for Dave, can't have the boys start thinking he's not interested in girls. But still Klaus is always near. The four of them dancing all together, Klaus and Dave going of periodically to get more drinks and to check in with the other boys. Their squad is starting to thin out from the club, most of them finding a girl and taking her back to their hotel room for the night after a few songs of dancing. But Dave doesn't want this to end, he wants to stay here with Klaus. Dancing, drinking, laughing. He's perfectly happy here.

And it seems that Klaus feels the same way.

That is until, Klaus' girl whispers in his ear and they both disappear. And Dave's heart breaks.