#your favorite ain't flawless you're just a hypocrite

[senka-mesecine]

Pitching the idea of Reader being a poor nurse that the boys just can’t get enough of, probably arriving with reinforcements to treat the wounded on base and subsequently becoming the begrudging object of the affections of both Barnes and Elias’ squads : )

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Just to shake things up, would be interesting if they were all obsessive...but not all of them necessarily in the sexual or romantic sense. Platonic obsession? Brotherly obsession? Unhealthy professional overattachment? Here we go!

― Like, I can see Taylor having a sickening crush but also thinking he's doing you a favor if he warns you against nearly every other platoon member that conveniently ain't him; That one's a killer, this one's a liar, that one's just bad news, that one over there is untrustworthy and generally unstable and before you know, it's like nobody's good enough from Chris' particular point of view; he's holier-than-thou in regards of all the men and you and finds fault with just about everyone one way or another, writing it off as him being the only sane man (even though he's clearly losing his sanity by the daily and is keenly aware of it) who's being a friend irregardless of the fact that you're professional and poised and had no intention with anyone outside the realm of fixing up their wounds. Chris doesn't see it that way, of course --- he feels he needs to be your voice of reason and your white knight and hero, all while effectively trying to isolate you from everyone else because none of them's worthy and someone should tell you time and time again. The road to hell's paved with good intentions, and that proverb fits spectacularly for Chris in this situation. He tells himself he's above casually pestering the one female on base because he's nobler and apart from all the grunts regardless how anonymous he strives to be, don't you know, which is precisely and exactly why he wants you quietly eclipsed and by his side. Because he's not an animal. Because you and him are similar in his mind's eyes and should stick together. He idealizes you to abnormal degrees. You're a flawless person on a pedestal. Undoubtedly starts a whole journal outside of his letters purely to put into words how highly he thinks of you.

― O'Neill just flat out hits on you constantly and his attentions seem like they would be sleazy, in your face, non stop, verging on annoyance but also slightly cowardly because he's usually all talk and very little action; meaning that you're flirted with ten times a day but he isn't ever gonna do any more than that because he's ultimately Barnes' brown-nosing lackey --- that's not to say he won't be pestering you during your chores, your duties, while you're actively stitching up someone wounded in combat and Red's, right there, buttering you up with comments and open schmoozing, going as far as getting confrontational if the younger soldiers from the opposing squad try to do the same, being the ultimate hypocrite, instantly burdening them with jobs, disgusting tasks, threats that he'll tell higher ups (higher ups being Barnes) and really anything and everything to get them as far away from you as possible and punish them for even attempt to act like wiseguys; one gets the impression it's not even necessarily himself he wants you for as much as for Barnes' squad and even Barnes himself and it's hard to deduce if he's pining in the romantic sense or solely out of a weirdly misplaced ownership and to peg the other side down a notch. Possibly a mix of both? Suffice to say he reports everything you say, you do, you don't do, who you've talked to, what you said, who you looked at ten seconds longer than you should've back to Bob, acting like the ultimate insider to all your whereabouts. You're probably this man's prime fuel of camp gossip. His favorite topic too. Turns out you have a spy on your tail at the base who doesn't even make a tremendously big effort to hide that he's spying. Might just openly joke about it to you.

― Bunny thinks management's done a hell of a good job sending the platoon a woman because he's convinced that's exactly what base camp lacked and he's disgusting enough to blatantly objectify and dehumanize you, viewing you on the same par as provisions --- the higher ups in the chain of command send them ammo, cans of food, matches, cigarettes, beer and now a woman. Perfect. Life's good. Like what else does a guy really need? Maybe a car. He'd like a car next. A really fast one. Yeah, that's a great idea. This kid's already loved his time in Vietnam before you've ever arrived but now, he just about adores it. He never wants to leave, ever, because why would he? He's got everything he needs right here due to the fact he's absolutely convinced sooner or later you'll put out to everyone, him included, of course. And in the meantime, it's nice just looking at you in your daily habitat, doing your job. Him and Junior might even make bets on it, having a whole elaborate batting order on who's gonna nail it first and how, acting like the nasty kids they are, forging plans on how to ensure Elias' squad is excluded from the figuratively fantastic gangbang. But, in spite of how putrid they generally are (usually among themselves) Bunny limits himself to off putting comments only and the occasional disastrously perverted attempt to start something and nothing more, coming off like a overly attached puppy that won't stop barking up your leg because while awful, he still has a whole platoon of superior's to contend with. Junior? Might just pretend he's hurt so you can tend to him while he acts like he's writhing in pain. There's something almost pathetically hilarious at play here. Hard to know if you wanna laugh or be disgusted.

― Barnes seemingly ignores you all while feeling he's entirely entitled to you in every way humanly possible. Professionally, platonically, sexually, romantically --- god's sake, man probably feels he's entitled to your very soul. And all this while he's completely poker faced, stone cold and apparently disinterested in your comings and goings. You could very well get the impression he deeply dislikes you. He might not even address you personally for the longest time ever (and might just do it through his lackeys) but he's actually got his eyes on you since the moment you set foot here, assessing everything about you down to the smallest minutiae of details. He feels you belong to him where feelings are concerned and to his squad, where professionalisms is in question, meaning that if someone from Elias' squad gets hurt he might just break up you doing your job by ordering you to do something else instead with the greatest airs of urgency ever, going as far as having an outburst of anger (a tactical one) or intimidating you if you refuse, just so Elias' boys wouldn't get any of your help and his do. Only his. He'd effectively eclipse you and separate you from his rivals, securing you as an asset. Somehow, this man's never said more than three words to you since you arrived on base, yet you ended up almost constantly by his side, treating his own squad-mates from miniscule illnesses while Elias's boys might be there dying from actual gunshot wounds. He's weeding out the opposition effectively all while having a hold on you that's covertly matrimonial in the most discreet of ways; Barnes is downright obsessed like the higher ups sent someone he's actually married to back in the world to do this job instead of someone who he's just met here and he would outright kill or eliminate anyone and everyone who'd dare get between him and you, without you even realizing how deeply fixated this man is.

― Wolfe latches unto you because you're the one person around here he can have the upper hand over in ways he can't over fellow soldiers; you're a woman, not a trained marine, not dangerous, you're surrounded by killers and yes, he can present himself as your kindred spirit in a den full of people who aren't like you. But, oh? He's different, you see. He's a college boy, he's more refined, more mellow, he wears a signet ring, he's less rugged than these assholes, he's willing to do non stop favors (as he constantly asks if you need something) and by extension you should rely on him because he's non-threatening Wolfe. It feeds his ego to be around you because he reckons you'll be infinitely easier to impress than fellow men and actual veterans and by extension, your admiration will be easier to harvest too and he likes that. This is more about his own feeling of self worth than anything else, although he absolutely wouldn't mind if in some figurative sense you liked him as opposed to all the other men in this platoon solely based off of the fact he counts and relies on the notion they'll all be too weird, scary or intimidating for your tastes...especially in comparison to him. His compatriots might view him as a wet sock of a Lieutenant but to you? He might actually be very impressive because he reckons you don't know any better. He'd like to have you because he actually does like but also as a 'gotcha!' and a big fuck you to everyone else in the platoon. They don't respect his authority as a Lieutenant and he doesn't have the streak cut out for leadership? Well, fair enough, at least he'll get the girl in the end and they won't. That's what he hopes for. The thought alone gets him mean and prideful and it fills up his head with hot air.

― Rhah could be very apprehensive about a woman's presence, telling his squad-mates an engrossed, impassioned story about how back in the old days sailors on ships always considered a woman on board bad luck --- and since this is a sort of ship, same hierarchy running the whole platoon in theory, with captains, first mates, cabin boys and deck scrubbers galore, he predicts you being here will be nothing but trouble, a conclusion him, and say, King could very well share, although King might be very blunt, cut the bullshit and just (jokingly?) assess the presence of a woman could just turn the men buck wild and he'd be willing to wager anything half of them will end up wanting you or fighting over you one way or another, whether you realize so or not; a notion Rhah might scoff at, reminding the other man of this all being bad mojo considering the amicability levels in the platoon are always oscillating from various shades of tense to various shades of awful. He sees you as a harbinger of doom. An omen of big trouble. Your presence seems like the beginning to a cautionary tale to Vermucci. He might just come and tell you that cautionary tale himself, warning you that your presence here is gonna mess everything up, but being the first one to be vary of you he's just as likely to be among the first to actually warm up to you sincerely, albeit after a bit of tough love, making his fixation a mix of something friendly, almost brotherly and while he was here demonizing you at first he might just end up idealizing you. Man probably names a new concoction of substances after you. Might play music that contain your name in the Underground's bunker during times off and parties. Goes from agitation in regards to you to flat out romanticization.

― Elias is worried sick for you. Day one. Not in a condescending way, far from; man would genuinely have his best interest at heart for you without even knowing you whatsoever or expecting anything in return. That's just how he is. He simply knows how much trouble your own presence here is gonna potentially cause for you if you don't watch out and he simultaneously admires you to no end for it because he knows it takes guts to be here, making that his overall attachment is almost brotherly in nature at first, even though if you blink you might catch something more there but for the most part he comes off as someone fiercely protective of you meaning that if a confrontation between the boys happens at all it's most likely going to happen due to Elias personally sticking up for you and being your knight in shining armor. He can't stand you being catcalled. Leered at. Sneered at. Underestimated. Talked down to. Talked about behind your back. People being gross towards you. He's s generally the reason why his own squad is better behaved than Barnes' who treat you like you downright belong to Barnes, leading to at an increase in tensions between and Bob because if anything, Elias can read the man's intent without it ever being spoken. He can just about catch the way Barnes looks at you. His protectiveness could be sibling-like, could be weirdly paternal, could be plain ol' kindness or could be downright love, either ways, the lines will never be clearly defined by Elias himself because he doesn't want you in that compromising situation while stuck out in the middle of the bush in a camp so far away from everything, genuinely making him the nicest man you'll encounter on base, causing the tensions grow only ever higher by proxy. Elias gains some very dangerous enemies through this, but his attachment to you is such he couldn't be happier.