cat_13145

Title: Soldier Boys
Author: Cat_13145
Pairing: Don/Ian
Rating: PG-13
Summary: AU Ian Edgerton is the first person Don meets after being shipped off to military school
Author's Note: This is posted thanks to jestana and cerealkiller0, both of whom asked for a sequel to my numb3rs_newyear fic for cerealkiller0. Hope she still thinks I'm the coolest author, especially after betaing this. Thanks and Enjoy!

Chapter 3

He’s trouble. He’s trouble.

The words repeated themselves in Don’s head, as he lay awake staring at the bunk above him. Colby had left pretty much after he’d said those words, and he’d barely made it back to the barracks before Lights Out.

Ian had already been up on his bunk, lying facing the wall, while David and Colby were having a whispered argument, which they both dropped the second he entered. Colby had avoid his eyes, pulling himself up on to his bunk, and David just looked at all of them, shaking his head.

Swearing internally, Don shifted himself. It was no use, he wasn’t going to sleep. He couldn’t get the story Colby had told him out of his head. Trouble was, he believed the blond. Colby had no reason to lie, and Ian’s own words on the subject had confirmed he was an orphan.

But he couldn’t see Ian strangling a guy for no reason, so there had to have been a reason.

But Colby would have mentioned it if there had been.

"There’s two sides to every story!" His mother’s voice echoed through his skull, as they had echoed up the stairs. She’d been yelling at his father, as they argued after his fight with Derek.

"You should listen to Don’s." But his father hadn’t and Don hadn’t told his. The few conversations they had before he came here had degenerated into yelling matches, upsetting both his mother and Charlie.

Thinking of his father, Don gave a small jolt. He’d been here nearly a month; so the first leave, when Cadet’s families are encouraged to visit was coming up that weekend. Mom had mentioned it in her last letter, telling Don that they would ALL be coming up to see him.

Don groaned softly, turning over. Another thing to worry about.

*******

“...Carrie and Mary-Beth.” Colby finished, placing his boots down next to his bunk.

“And I thought my sister was bad.” David said, shaking his head. “What about you Don? You got any sibs?”

“Brother.” Don muttered, pretending his attention was focused on his own footwear. “Five years younger.”

“Lucky you.” Colby observed.

“You’re the youngest right?”

Colby rolled his eyes good naturedly. “Of the boys yeah. Billy and Ed came through here. Both overseas now,” he added, his face darkening slightly.

Don could feel rather than see Ian listening in, though the other boy was pretending to reading a book of poetry. If it had been anyone other than Ian, the book would have been grabbed and it’s owner made the subject of ridicule, but Ian’s quiet menace was enough to ensure he’d be left alone.

Don hadn’t really had a chance to speak to him since that conversation with Colby. He had tried in the locker room the next morning, but had been told:

“Best listen to Granger, Don. He’s right. I am trouble.”

He’d had no luck with any of his other approaches either and thus, this school was sucking as majorly as the last one, or it would once they’d met Charlie. Currently, he was just another probie. Soon he’d be the probie with the freak brother.

*****

“DONNIE!!!” Margaret Eppes grabbed her son into a bone breaking hug. He struggled for a moment, before he noticed that everyone else was enduring the same treatment.

He caught Colby’s eyes and the other boy sent him a sympathetic grimace. He then looked over at David, who had three almost identical women (presumable his mother, aunt and grandmother) hugging and pinching at him.

“You’re so thin.” Margaret moaned.

“It’s just muscle mom. Happens to everyone.” He glanced at Charlie, who was looking at Don like he was an alien. “Hey Chuck.”

Charlie nodded back in response.

“Still feeling car sick?” Margaret asked gently, before turning her attention back to Don. “Dad’ll be here in a minute, he’s just finding somewhere to park.”

Don rolled his eyes. “Yeah, well, you made it.”

Margaret smiled, showing her teeth and a lack of comfort. Don made a guess that Dad was sleeping on the couch when Mom was home.

“So Sweetie?” Margaret’s smile looked faker than ever. “Why don’t you give us the tour?”

****

“How'd your mom handle it?” David asked as they sat on their bunks that night. “She get all emotional?”

“Ya kidding? Done this three times and another two to get through.” Colby shook his head. “But yeah, she cried.”

“Your mom seemed to be handling O.K. Don.”

“Yeah.” Don muttered, trying not to show that he’d actually been hurt by it.

Colby’s mom had to be supported by her two daughters as she left. Grandmother Sinclair was weeping like a willow, and David's mother and aunt had been little better.

Margaret Eppes had simply kissed her son and muttered “Be good, Sweetie.”

Don tried not to show how much this had bothered him.

“Come on. Lights out in ten.”

He lay staring at the ceiling, before he heard a voice above him whispering.

“Yeah, she held it together. Until she made it past the gates. Then she cried her eyes out.”

“You talking to me again?” Don asked of the ceiling.

He heard the mattress above him creak as Ian shrugged. “Granger’s right. You shouldn’t have anything to do with me.”

“Why? Cause of some stupid thing that happened when you were a kid? Isn’t that the point of this place? Your past doesn’t matter, it’s your future that counts?” He had more to say, but suddenly Ian’s face appeared, hanging upside down over the bunk.

Before Don had a chance to think, Ian’s hands grabbed his, pulling his head close for a kiss. Don struggled, more from shock than anything else, and Ian released him.

“Now you know,” he said softly. “I’m trouble, Don. Stay away.”