results of "don't tell"

War - unkown

They had been deep within the jungle for weeks, the supplies were running low and the only concept of time they had was a mini calendar and an old chain watch that one of the veteran members carried.

Joseph spent as much time alone as he could, which wasn't very much considering the situation they were in. When the group gathered for social time was usually when he found solitary moments.

"Why are you over here by yourself, cadet?" Bradley asked as he sat down on the ground near him. Bradley was one of the few within their small mission group who would purposely talk to Joseph.

Joseph quickly hid the photo he was looking at under the jacket he had crumpled up to use as a pillow. It wasn't unusual for someone to call him cadet, even though that wasn't his ranking. His full nickname, as designated by the current group and mission, was space cadet because he sometimes could be found gazing out in the distance not paying attention to the people around him.

"Nothing," he responded.

Bradley quickly grabbed the photo from under the jacket, Joseph hadn't been able to develop quick enough reflexes compared to the others.

"What do we have here, a picture of your girl?"

Joseph couldn't even stutter out a response as he waited for the expected reaction from Bradley.

Looking at the photo, Bradley was surprised. "Oh, it's you and another guy."

"Uhh, yeah," Joseph's gaze dropped to the floor, knowing the obvious connection would be made. There was no other way to interpret the photo. In it he had his arms wrapped around his boyfriend.

"So, that's why you didn't join in when we were all talking about our loved ones." Bradley concluded.

"Don't ask, don't tell." Joseph muttered, still unable to look Bradley in the eye. He was afraid of the consequences that might occur.

Bradley nodded. "Right, the policy does leave certain people out of those kinds of situations, such as the sharing about loved ones."

Joseph finally looked up at Bradley, surprised and relieved thus far at his reaction. "Exactly."

Handing the photo back, Bradley reached into his front pocket pulling out his own photo. "Have you seen my photo?" He held his hand out so that Joseph could see the image.

"It's of you and your girlfriend, right? Or is she your fiancée"

"Not exactly," he admitted. "I'm not woman enough for her."

"Fem, interesting." Joseph grabbed the photo so he could examine it more.

Pointing to the other girl in the picture Bradley explained, "that girl is her girlfriend. And that guy right there was my boyfriend."

Joseph looked at the photo more closely, surprised. "Oh, he was your boyfriend. What happened?"

Bradley pulled himself closer before saying, "it is hard to make a relationship work after joining the military when the person you are dating protests the military. It's difficult to keep a relationship going after shipping out, anyways." Seeing the slight discomforted look in Joseph's eyes he continued, "being away from someone for that long and staying faithful is almost impossible."

There was a minute of silence as Joseph seemed downhearted at what Bradley had said. "We've been together for almost four years now. We have been with only each other."

"Wow. High school sweethearts then?"

Joseph nodded. "But now that it's an open relationship, I guess that I'm afraid he'll find out he was missing out on a lot and not want to be together."

"I'm sure things will be okay," Bradley attempted to comfort him.

"For Valentine's Day he would wake me up after midnight so that he could be the first to kiss me on that day." Joseph looked down, remembering past events.

Suddenly, Joseph looked up and began to rant. "He probably will find someone better. If I ever make it back to him it will only be to find out that he has moved on. I hate this.."

Looking at the chain watch he had borrowed Bradley interrupted Joseph, "Cadet!"

Once Joseph had stopped Bradley put his hands around Joseph's head and pulled him forward. Their lips connected for a moment. After they had parted the only thing Bradley had to say was, "Happy Valentine's Day."