Chapter Text
Price whistled loudly though his fingers to get everyone’s attention and silence came in an instant. Price walked towards the table they were gathered around,
“I have a new recruit for you” He said, nodding to the file in his hands.
“We don’t have time to train someone else, sir” Gaz responded.
“Ghost trained him, according to him, he’s better than all of your soldiers even though he’s half their age. Possibly he’s biased.”
“Of course, I’m biased, I’ve been training him for 7 years” Ghost said, standing next to Price and taking the file out of his hands to read. The front page where there was meant to be a photo, was blank, just like Ghost’s. Ghost read quickly.
“Whoever wrote this spelt his name wrong on Page 2” Ghost pointed out.
“I know, it’s irritating but so is his name” Price said rolling his eyes at Ghost. Gaz cleared his throat loudly.
“When did you have the time?” Alejandro asks pointedly
“The past 7 years haven’t been as busy for me as you’d think” Ghost responded, a rare bit of honesty.
“You’ve trained him for 7 years? Why are we only getting him now?” Gaz asks, actually confused.
“He’s finally of age” Price said, Soap’s head shot up, eyes alarmed. “It’s not as weird as you think Soap” Price opened the file to the first page that set out his achievement’s skills, the ‘previous missions’ section missing.
“Tycho Riley. You’ll call him Spider”
“19??!” Alejandro almost shrieked
“RILEY??!” Soap shouted
“I’m scared of spiders” Rodolfo admitted quietly. The room went quiet. Everyone in it, looking towards Ghost, who stood still, no expression changes evident in his eyes. He sighed,
“Spider is my son. I’ve been training him since he was 12 and he killed his mother’s husband” Ghost chose his words carefully. Not stepfather, Mother’s husband. Not murdered, killed. He remembers the day as if it was yesterday – getting the phone call from a woman who was entirely in his past – asking to take their child with him or she’ll take him to court. Finding out he had a secret son wasn’t the piece of information that made him angry, it was the fact his own son had been abused just like he was and there was nothing Simon or Ghost could do.
“He killed his- Jesus Christ Ghost” Alejandro whispered, “I need a drink”. Rodolfo nodded in agreement.
“It was self defence, we won’t talk more about it. You haven’t even met him yet” Price said.
“How has Ghost been a dad this whole time and none of us knew”
“That’s why he’s called Spider. You hardly ever know when he’s there” Price pointed to the wall in front of him and behind the others. Instantly a small shadowy figure jumped onto the floor in front of them from on top of the stacked boxes. If 3 of them jumped, It’s none of your business.
“Good to see you again, Spider” Price smiled. Spider moved fluidly, as soundless as his father moved and with the same grace. Spider was substantially smaller than Ghost in every aspect but that somehow made him more intimidating. He wore the same balaclava and skull mask, just painted black with red lines down it instead. When he stepped into the light, The first thing everyone looked at was his eyes, it was hard not to. Beneath the copious amounts of black paint, his eyes were a dull yellow, like straw. Yet they had a crazed look to them, less dead than Ghost’s but more or less exactly the same.
“Alright, John?” Spider spoke as he walked around the table to where Ghost and Price were stood. Standing next to his dad made him look like a shadow. The whole time Soap had been silent, too shocked to say anything, but upon hearing a smooth Scottish accent come out of the offspring of Ghost almost made his knees buckle. Evident in the way Spider talked to Price, and called him John, they’d known each other for quite some time.
“I think you broke Soap” Gaz laughed.
“You alright Johnny?” Ghost asked quietly, looking down at Soap who was stood next to him, knuckles white with how hard he was gripping the table. Soap nodded.
“Can we ask questions or will he bite us?” Alejandro asked. Price laughed shortly but told them Spider would answer any question he wanted and wouldn’t answer any he didn’t. Ghost didn’t feel bad leaving Spider to the questioning because he was used to it, but he grabbed Soap’s arm and led him out of the room silently. Dragging him into a much smaller room across the hall, Ghost pulled Soap in front of him, unable to avoid his eyes.
“What’s wrong?”
“You have a son, he’s Scottish and he’s here” Soap said quietly.
“He chose to be here, if he didn’t actively want to, I’d keep him on the other side of the world. He grew up in Kirkcaldy” Ghost said, scratching the side of his face nervously.
“Are you alright?”
“Christ Johnny why are you asking me that?” Ghost made a sound that was almost a laugh before putting his hand on Soap’s shoulder.
“Because Spider is a big part of your life and you’ve revealed it to us. It takes a lot of energy out of you especially when people don’t know anything else about you” Soap explained.
“Call him Ty”
“What?”
“Call him Ty. I do. The same way we’ll call you Johnny and not Soap, okay?” Ghost held Soap’s eye contact, both of them trying to understand the look in the others eye.
“Will he be okay with that?” Soap asked even quieter
“Of course. He knows he can trust you the most. If he hasn’t got me for some reason, he’ll go to you. If he needs something and I’m not there or he doesn’t want to go to me, he’ll go to you. Laswell insisted that he should call her but he doesn’t like phones. She took the role of Aunt very seriously when she met him last month.” Ghost smiled beneath his mask and Soap nodded.
“Thank you for telling him to trust me”
“I didn’t. He saw that I trusted you and came to his own conclusions. Ty and I are a team and it’s always just been us since he was 12, he likes the idea of you being a part of that” Ghost admitted. Soap’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “He is incredibly good at reading body language, and reading between the lines of someone’s speech”
“What did he read?”
“What do you think?” Ghost asked softly, he placed his hand gently on Soap’s waist, leaving enough time for him to squirm away. Soap leaned into it and brought his hands up to cradle Ghost’s face. Not saying anything, just holding the sides of his face. Ghost’s face was warm underneath the mask and if he didn’t have it on, Soap would see the impossible shade of red he was right now.
“Let’s go back, yeah? We’ll talk later” Ghost said, holding onto Soap’s wrist with his free hand. Soap nodded and let go of Ghosts face. They walked back into the room like nothing had happened and no one questioned it. Until Spider turned around, looking his dad dead in the eye he said,
“Did you do it?”
“Almost” Ghost shrugged, Spider scoffed.
“Pussy”
“Fuck off” Ghost flicked the back of his sons head and turned to his crew who were looking at him weirdly.
“I feel like if one of us did that you’d sew our mouths shut” Gaz murmured, humour in his voice.
“Despite your desperate need for a father, I am not yours. You have Price for that, so yes I would” Ghost responded. Price was about to object before he thought about it properly and stopped himself.
“What about Soap?” Alejandro asked
“It’s Soap. Even sewing his mouth shut wouldn’t stop him”
“Gee thanks L.T.” Soap laughed from next to Ghost. Spider watched as Soap leaned into Ghost slightly and Ghost didn’t back off. In fact he hardly even noticed. He scurried unseen to behind his father and jumped on his back. Ghost was familiar with this routine and knew Spiders weight.
“Either you’re getting slow or you’re getting soft. Which is it Dad?” He said, loud enough for everyone to hear but still hushed.
“Ty, did you not take your meds or something?” Ghost reached up and checked the pulse on Spiders neck, it was normal.
“Perfectly medicated, just observant” Spider said wrapping his arms around his Dad’s shoulders like he was a back pack, Ghost just let him. His team got over the initial softness that came from Ghost being a Dad and started going through their plan for the next day. Rodolfo proposed afternoon drinks in his and Alejandro’s quarters afterwards and they all agreed, even Price. Spider jumped off Ghost and followed them, walking on his own behind them all.
Their rooms were bigger than most and they even had a kitchen area to themselves where a large table was set. The fridges were raided and Price had gone to the kitchens down the hall. They sat down, Spider didn’t take the 6th seat, he sat on the counter top of the kitchen and waited for Price to come back and sit there so it didn’t look so weird. Price arrived a minute later with a bottle underneath his vest, he grabbed a cup and turned his back to the table and poured the contents. He threw the empty bottle in the bin before turning back to the table and handing the cup to Spider wordlessly. They all looked at him confused, before Spider smelled it and his eyes lit up in surprise.
“Thank you Sir. That’s very considerate of you” He said after a few minutes. It was clear to anyone who heard it that saying thank you was an unnatural thing for him. Ghost had taught him the importance of manners when he was 16, embarrassed that this was a thing he was supposed to learn as a toddler.
“Can’t have my only nephew missing out now, can we? Even if we are in a war zone” Price said throwing a genuine smile over his shoulder. Ghost turned around and gestured to the cup, Spider gave it to him and Ghost sniffed it exactly the same as Spider had done a few minutes ago.
“Where’d you get that?” Ghost asked, handing the cup back to Spider who took a sip.
“I knew we had some somewhere, no idea why, but comes in handy” Price shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal, but it was, the fact that Price knew to bring Ghost’s kid apple juice so he wasn’t tempted by the beer made Ghost’s head swell a little. It was then that he realised Price was serious, he thought of Ghost as a brother and Spider as a nephew. Ghost had found a family, a family that accepted his son and him. He sent Price a look that he hoped conveyed just how thankful he was. The rest of the team just assumed it was a certain type of warm beer that Spider liked, judging by the colour.
“A toast, amigos” Alejandro said, as he did every time, “To Ghost and Spider”
“To Ghost and Spider!” Came back a chorus, excluding the two themselves who held their drinks up in solidarity. Rodolfo mumbled something about going to get another chair for Spider to join them at the table and left the room briefly. Spider took this as his moment to lean down and whisper in Soap’s ear.
“How long have Alejandro and Rodolfo been together?”
“Since before we got here, your dad doesn’t believe me” Soap whispered back
“Really? The look Alejandro gave him as he stood up, the little smile? That’s men in love” Spider said, Soap chuckled and nodded in agreement. “Speaking of, thank you for taking care of my dad. He’s happy when he’s with you, i haven’t seen him content for a long time, Johnny. It’s a good look for him”
“I wouldn’t know”
“Haven’t seen his face?”
“Once”
“I’ll talk to him about it” Spider said, squeezing Soap’s shoulder who sent him a smile.
“Ghost I think Soap stole your son” Alejandro said, making everyone laugh, as Rodolfo re-entered the room with a chair.