Excerpts from "Flying Colors" by C. S. Forester:

Bush's hand which lay outside the blanket twitched and stirred and moved towards him; he took it and he felt a gentle pressure. For a few brief seconds Bush's hand stroked his feebly, caressing it as though it was a woman's. There was a glimmer of a smile on Bush's drawn face with its closed eyes. During all the years they had served together it was the first sign of affection either had shown for the other.

and:

There were the two nights when it rained, and they all slept huddled together under the shelter of a blanket stretched between willow trees, there had been a ridiculous pleasure about waking up to find Bush snoring beside him with a protective arm across him.

-- These are quite slashy, I'll admit that. The rest, though -- Hornblower still likes to put Bush down whenever he's in a bad mood and needs someone to vent his frustration on:

The harshness of his tone checked Bush in the full career of his artless and unwonted chatter, and the lieutenant pulled himself up abruptly. Hornblower thought it was absurd that Bush should still cherish any affection for him after the cutting cruelty with which he sometimes used him. Bush was like a dog, thought Hornblower bitterly, too cynical for the moment to credit Bush with any perspicacity at all, like a dog, coming fawning to the hand that beat him. Hornblower despised himself as he walked forward again to the mainsheet, to a long, long, period of a solitary black hell of his own.

I cannot see that as a true friendship. I like Hornblower less and less since he, despite 'despising himself' on such occasions, evidently doesn't ever change.

I'm still ecstatic -- I got my eBook reader (RCA REB 1100) yesterday! I love eBay.

I already feared the worst because I couldn't seem to get it switched on, but after I bought an adapter today and started loading the battery, the screen's no longer dark. Yay. Now I only need to figure out how to install, configure etc. it.

*deep breath*