Day in and day out, dozens, if not hundreds, of robots swarmed the Mann Co factory and were picked off like flies. Scout had been the first to realize the machines were filled with money. Most of the team agreed they must be powered by it somehow. Engineer doubted it. The robots only ever came during the day, so they must be solar powered, he reasoned. Every night, the dust from the day's battle would settle, leaving Engineer free to tinker on his latest project, and the destroyed robots provided him plenty of scrap metal. Engineer was in heaven.

Spy was not.

Killing the robots was repetitive and boring. Most dropped like flies. The larger ones could take a lot of hits, but that didn't make them any less repetitive. Just empty rounds into them until they stopped. Where was the fun in that? The challenge? Spy was going to go crazy if he couldn't escape this place.

Nights spent in the Sniper's embrace could only ease his cabin fever temporarily. Morning would always bring another wave of robots. Spy always watched Sniper rush off to the battlefield, sickened by his eagerness. How could the Sniper enjoy this so much? Some days, he would even jump into the fray with nothing but his kukri and a wild, gleeful expression. The sex was exceptionally wonderful after days like that, and Spy could forget for a few hours how terrible his life was.

Some days were better than others. Sometimes, a Sentry Buster would rush in while Soldier was reloading. And if Demoman was drunk enough, and if Heavy was far enough away, the Sentry Buster would actually destroy Engineer's nest. Briefly, while Engineer was rebuilding everything, the battle would almost be in the machine's favor. Spy could pretend they were BLUs and not robots. He would take a sadistic pleasure in backstabbing a few of them before the tide of the battle could return squarely in the human's favor. Those nights, Spy didn't even need Sniper's company to ease his pain.

Spy wasn't gay, not really. There just weren't any other options here, in the middle of nowhere. The first time Sniper had propositioned him, he refused. Back then, Spy still believed this war with the robots would eventually end, that he would be able to rekindle things with the BLU Scout's mother. For weeks, Sniper incessantly bothered Spy with offers of companionship, and Spy kept refusing. Eventually, the offers ceased.

Spy was broken from his reveries by waking up in the Respawn room. He wasn't even sure how he got there. If this battle actually mattered, he would have felt bad about zoning out in the middle of combat. If. That night sex was rough, not that either would ever complain about such things. After, the Australian murmured something the Frenchman hoped was not a confession of feelings and went to sleep.

Spy stayed in the camper van, as he often did, but could not fall asleep. His mind kept wandering to the best—or was it worst?—decision of his life: approaching the Sniper all those months ago. It had been such an awkward conversation for him, but the Spy would not allow his nerves into his voice. He made eye contact with the wall over Snipers shoulder and simply said "Alright."

It had been months sense Sniper's last offer, but he instantly knew what the Spy meant. He took the Spy gently that night and whispered soft words of endearment that meant nothing to Spy. Sniper never mentioned the Spy's tears that night, or any of the following nights. After a couple weeks, they stopped falling completely. Spy never topped. He told himself that, as long as he took a passive role in everything, he was still straight.

When Spy woke up the next morning, Sniper was placing two plates of scrambled eggs on the small table. Spy quietly thanked him but otherwise, breakfast was eaten in silence. Spy liked the silence. Sniper looked like he wanted to make idle conversation—he often looked that way—but he kept his silence. He was afraid of how unsteady things were with Spy, and he was afraid of doing anything to break what little they had. If they couldn't be friends outside of bed, then so be it. Sniper would take what he could get.