Keep in touch? Not likely. Eventually his CO would find the connection and sever it. Just what he's got, what he's got to deal with. But that hand on his shoulder? Meant more than he'd allow to show normally. Normally, though, he had a helmet to hide the tiny little lift in the corner of his lips.

"You have dimples," Maine points out, shaking his head. "SPARTANs don't get to have dimples. Especially when he's got a job. Which means getting me a datapad. And maybe cards. I've got to wait until your work here is done and if you can be spared to distract me, then let's do that."

Drift back out? This is a war, Kurt. They won't drift apart. They will go hurtling apart, driven that way. But damn if this wasn't a fight he'd give himself to for a while.