He's heard Cougar whisper quite often, really, but he's never heard this breathy tone from him, the kind of nervous wonder that he tends to associate with starry-eyed girls in bars who don't understand what being a soldier really entails, too dazzled by their muscles and their scars and Hollywood movies that glamorize combat.

"Cougs, I've been basically in love with you for most of a decade," he points out, and then immediately goes beet red. It's one thing to admit 'hey, I think you're cute, let's make out,' and another to drop the l-bomb without warning.