Chapter Text
“What’s going on Capt?”
“Show some respect, Soap,”
“Aye, so should you, Lieutenant,” A sly smile formed on Soap's face. Ghost grunt in his response, rolling his eyes. Just then, Gaz walked into the meeting room.
“What’s poppin, Price,” Gaz took a seat at the table next to Price as the other two stood.
“Kid, I don’t even know what that means,”
“Yeah, Gaz, the elders don’t know what that means, you’ll have to explain it for Capt and Lt,” Ghost lightly punched Soaps arm, Price sighed.
“Kids sit down,” Price pulled out a yellow folder. “Why are you two even here? This meeting was only for Soap?”
“I followed Ghost, but someone needed directions on the way here,”
“I followed Soap, wanted to see what was happening.”
“Are you okay with them here thing, Sergeant?” Soap just shrugged and took a seat across Price, Ghost following suit. “Okay, then.”
After a couple minutes of Price shuffling papers around, he eventually found the ones he needed for the meeting. Ghost didn’t miss the way Soap glanced at the door as someone walked by. Normally, he wouldn’t give it a second thought, but Ghost has noticed his behavior recently. They had only been back on base for a month. Laswell still looking for intel on Makarov, Price working on authorizing new members, and Shepard still in hiding. Ghost being tasked to oversee the training, Gaz leading the gun range, and Soap as always on the demolition training.
Recently, though, Soap had seemed more jumpy, on edge. He looks exhausted in the morning, and hasn’t been eating the most. Of course Gaz asked when it first started, but he just brushed off the question. Soaps a talker, and recently he hasn’t been. To say that Ghost is worried would be an understatement. However, he doesn’t want to push Soap into talking if he doesn’t want to.
A bump on the knee brought Ghost back into reality. Looking down, he sees Soap's knee touching his and when he looked up, soap had a concerned look on his face. He just shook his head and focused back on Price. Soap never did move his leg, and Ghost leaned his a bit on Soaps.
“As I was saying,” Price cleared his throat, “Soap, you will be going to assist Farah on watching the north border of their compound. You will be going with 30 members of our team. They’re already packed, and you ship out tomorrow at 06:00.”
“Am going to Urzikstan’?”
“Yes,”
“Cool! I’ve never been!”
“We also need you to keep on the lookout for this man. We don’t have his real name, but he goes by Gray,”
“That’s a pretty cringe name,” Gaz chimed in.
“Aye, that’s pretty embarrassing,” Price gave both Gaz and Soap a disapproving look before continuing.
“He has Makarov's men on his side, so there will be a fight. You are to find him, get information out of him, and kill him.”
“Why am I not going, sir?”
“Because I need your help here, Ghost. Can’t leave all of the training to Gaz.” Price lit a cigar, taking a puff and passing a picture of Grey to Soap. “Memorize this picture and be ready to leave. You’ll have some new transfers on the team, so keep them in line. Don’t let them blow this.”
“Aye, I can do that,” Soap studied the picture, “Can I keep this?” He asked, holding up the picture.
“Whatever you need Sergeant, any other questions?”
“Nah, I’m good Capt,”
“Okay, you’re all dismissed,” Price stood up fixing his hat. “You two decide who's going to do demolitions. Now get out.”
The three of them walked out together, Soap first. Ghost couldn’t help but not feel right about this mission. He quietly walked behind the two while they talked. Gaz split off first to go train the group of new recruits.
“Something on yer mind, Lt?”
“Something doesn’t feel right about this, Johnny,”
“Aye..” Soap paused outside of his door, “Want to come in and chat while I pack up?” Ghost grunted in response, and Soap opened the door, holding it open for Ghost to enter first.
The room was a mess, in standards, but to Ghost, every room is a mess if it doesn’t look like his. He took a seat at Johnny's desk while Soap grabbed his rucksack to pack for the mission. Ghost noticed an odd stack of papers but didn’t want to go snooping through Johnny’s stuff, especially when he was right there.
“Yer thinkin an awful lot today, sir,”
“Got a lot to think about, Johnny,”
“Like what?”
“Who am I going to make fun of while you’re gone?”
“Easy, use that phone of yers for once and text me,”
“Can’t distract you on mission, Johnny,”
“Aye, but could send me goodnight texts,” A cheeky grin graced Johnny’s face, “And I’ll text ye when we’re resting.”
“Could,” Ghost watched Soap put his back up journal in his bag. “Not taking the main?”
“Nah, don’t trust these guys not to snoop,”
“Good choice,” Soap smiled at him.
“Whose gonna stop ye from being a spooky bitch while I’m gone?” Ghost grunted, rolling his eyes. “Oh not, those poor recruits. I feel for them.” Soap put a hand on his chest.
“Someones gotta toughen ‘em up,” Ghost shrugged scratching his jaw.
“Can I see yer face before I leave?”
“Negative,”
“I need something beautiful before leaving, though! What if am gone ages?”
“You’ll just have to come back fast,” Soap pouted. “Want to go to the canteen? It’ll close soon,”
“Aye, and we can eat in here, I’ll clean it in the morning,”
They walked to the canteen in comfortable silence, both still worrying about the upcoming mission. Unbeknownst to Ghost, Soap knew what was going to happen, or a very good guess. They get their food in silence, and walk back to Soap’s room in silence. When they get back in, Ghost resumes his seat at the desk and Soap plops down on his bed.
“Hey Lt,” Ghost hums in response, “What do you call a pig that practices Karate?”
“Hit me,”
“A pork chop,” Soap chuckles and Ghost shakes his head.
“What did 0 say to 8?”
“What?”
“Nice belt,”
“That’s terrible Simon,” Soap says through his laughter.
“Better than yours I reckon,” Simon can’t help the smile on his face.
“Aye, but still bad,” Soap starts to eat, and Ghost takes this time to lift his mask halfway to eat as well.
The mood was lighter as they ate, still silent, but the gloomy undertone was not there. Once they finished eating, they kept sharing awful jokes back and forth. Simon having forgotten about the lifted mask ages ago, Soap couldn’t help but stare when he smiled and laughed. Analyzing every bit that he could see and saving it in his memory to draw later.
“Aye, I better get some sleep Lt, will you be there for send off?”
“Of course Johnny,” Simon stood up, fixing his mask. “I’ll take care of the plates, Get some sleep Johnny.”
“You too, Simon.”