All Things Nice » Band of Brothers

11: Nicknames

"Is he outta his goddamn mind? Makin' us run Currahee three times in one day, who the fuck does he think he is?" Liebgott ranted as he pushed back into the barracks after his shower. His hair was wet and dripping in his eyes which seemingly only served to make him angrier.

"The CO of this company?" Luz suggested in a deadpan, not even bothering to look up from his hand of cards.

Posey stifled a laugh and kept her eyes trained on her own hand. Malarkey had suggested starting a game of Crazy Eights - which the men of Second Platoon were known to play as an evening pastime - and Posey was desperately trying to win based purely off of the knowledge she had acquired from being a spectator. She didn't think she was doing very well.

"Yeah, well, I don't see him doing a full fuckin' day of PT plus running Currahee three times," Liebgott retorted bitterly.

"He does run Currahee with us, though," Toye spoke up from where he was smoking on his bed.

"Joe, who's side are you on?" Liebgott snapped, all but throwing himself down on his bunk and letting out a loud huff.

"Wells, it's your turn," Luz said casually around his cigarette.

"It is? But I just went!"

"There's only four of us playin'."

"I think you're just trying to make me lose."

"Paranoid," Malarkey commented.

Posey laughed. "Competitive," she corrected, and took another card from the pile.

"God, my arms ache like hell from holding that goddamn rifle all day," Skip complained from just outside the circle of players where he'd been watching the game. He punctuated his sentence by rubbing at his forearms, eyebrows scrunched together as he grimaced.

"You sure it's from the rifle and not somethin' else, Skip?" Talbert called out crudely.

Posey scrunched up her nose and turned back to look at Tab if only so he could catch a glimpse of her disgust.

"Got no idea how anyone's supposed to shoot that thing with how heavy it is," Skip continued, choosing to ignore the suggestive comment.

"How d'you shoot it so good, Wells?" Malarkey asked with genuine interest. "I'm surprised it doesn't weigh you down!"

Posey pouted. "I'm not that small!"

"Yeah?" Luz asked, grinning. "Go stand next to Bull."

The comment received scattered laughs from the rest of the barracks. Posey rolled her eyes. "Bite me."

"No, I'm serious!" Luz exclaimed. "Go stand next to Bull!"

Posey huffed but she got to her feet anyway, making her way over to an expectant Bull.

The reaction was instant.

"See!"

"What a height difference!"

"Standin' there makes you look even smaller!"

"But his name's Bull because he's so unusually big!" Posey insisted in a whine. "He'd make any of you look small! Perco isn't even that much taller than me."

"Fuck off am I, Wells," Perconte commented drily.

Luz was giggling like a schoolboy as he observed the height difference between Posey and Bull. "If he's a bull then you're a - a..." he trailed off, searching for the perfect comparison. Posey watched as his eyes lit up when he found it. "A duck! That's what we'll call you from now on!"