Work Text:
The bar was rowdy and loud, the stench of beer wafted through the air, searing Ghost’s nose.
He winced slightly at the sound of a bottle shattering on the opposite end of the room, and hunched further in on himself when noisy laughter carried from the perpetrator and his friends. He was perched on a stool in a far corner of the bar, cradling a glass of bourbon in his hands. It was still half full, despite having been sat in front of him for over half an hour, the amber liquid swirling around the glass as he shifted it. He didn’t particularly feel like getting drunk in front of his colleagues.
The men in question, however, seemed to have no such qualms.
Soap, Gaz, Alejandro and Rudy were arguably the rowdiest group in the small bar. They had managed to score a night where they were all off duty and had made the most of the opportunity by heading down into the local town and crashing the first bar they found. It was safe to say that they were all adequately shitfaced. Soap and Alejandro had somehow started an arm-wrestling tournament, and the other were cheering them on. Ghost sighed, knowing that it would be up to him and Price to get those overgrown toddlers home safely.
Speaking of Price, the man was sitting on a stool a safe distance from the chaos similarly to Ghost. But instead of exasperation, he was watching them carefully, like a father might watch his children attempting something stupid and dangerous. He was smiling slightly at their cheering but was also poised to jump in if anything went wrong. Soap and Gaz had taken to jokingly calling Price their dad, and Ghost couldn’t help but see that there might be some truth to it.
Despite all of that, Ghost was not having a pleasant time. He was starting to regret coming at all, but the puppy eyes Soap had given him beforehand had always been his weakness. He regretted it immediately when Soap’s pleading expression had instantly switched to a cunning grin, and Ghost knew he had been thoroughly swindled. Still, who was he to refuse his boyfriend. Referring to Soap as his boyfriend would never stop feeling strange, no matter how accurate the term may be.
He regretted coming because of the sheer amount of noise and sights and smells pressing down upon him. His leg bounced up and down in a furious metronome beat, the fabric of his clothes and mask unusually grating against his skin. Noise came from every corner, from the clinking of glasses to footsteps to yelling, it all abused his ears, and he resisted the urge to clamp his hands over them. There were far too many people around and the smells of alcohol and sweat didn’t help his case.
Still, he had survived worse, and could stick it out for one night.
A cheer rose from the soldiers’ group as Johnny succeeded in pinning Alejandro’s arm to the table, the loudest cheer from Soap himself. Alejandro scowled and flipped the man off, but Soap just ruffled his hair, much to the man’s annoyance.
As Rudy and Gaz settled into the now vacant spots to take their turn facing off, Soap’s eyes roved over the bar. It wasn’t difficult to deduce what he was searching for, as once his eyes locked on Ghost a wide smile broke out over his face and he started to dodge between people to make his way towards the man. Ghost winced as he almost tripped over himself in his haste, nearly spilling the beer he was still drinking.
Soon Soap was crashing to a halt in front of him, putting a hand on Ghost’s shoulder to steady himself. He swayed slightly from side to side, and Ghost knew that he was more drunk than he had originally suspected.
“Y’alright Johnny?” Ghost asked, grabbing a hold of Soap’s wrist to stop him from taking a tumble to the floor and taking the bottle out of his hand to place on the table.
Soap tried to speak but ended up giggly uncontrollably instead, leaning into Ghost, his knees almost giving out. Ghost looked up to see Price watching them.Ghost shot Price pleading eyes, clearly begging for help.
He’s your boyfriend Price mouthed back, and Ghost scowled.
“H-hi Ghost,” Soap said, looking up at Ghost with lovesick eyes.
“Hi Johnny,” Ghost replied, manoeuvring Soap so he could stand properly.
“Ghost’s a funny name,” Soap said, mouth twisting in confusion.
“So is Soap,”
“Oh yeah! Goo’ point Lt,” Soap slurred.
Ghost finally managed to shift Soap so he was actually sat on a chair, instead of practically falling into Ghost.
“Y’know wha’ Rudy said?” Soap asked.
“What?”
“He said-,” Soap was cut off by giggles, and he had to take a moment to steel himself, before putting on a face of intense seriousness, and Ghost melted slightly at the way he pouted.
“Rudy said ‘at he thinks I ‘ave a crush on ye,”
Ghost had to stop himself from laughing, especially when Soap grabbed his hand to make Ghost look him in the eyes before he continued.
“And I think ‘e might be right,”
“I should bloody well hope so, seeing as we’re going out,” Ghost huffed through an amused smirk.
Soap seemed to space out for a second before pitching forward, his face planting itself in the crook of Ghost’s neck. Ghost stiffened while Soap sighed heavily. He was glad that nobody was looking at them to see him blush.
“Simon’s a pretty name,” Johnny mumbled, to which Ghost exhaled deeply.
It was blatantly obvious that Johnny was out of the range of drunk, and into completely useless bumbling idiot. Ghost massaged his temples with his hands as he realised that it would be his job to get his overgrown child of a boyfriend safely back to base.
“Yer the only Simon I’ve met,” Johnny said, almost incoherently into Simon’s neck. “’part from one, when I was a wee lad, ye remind me of ‘im,”
Johnny was soon slipping entirely off the seat he had been unstably perched on, and Ghost grabbed him under the arms before he could go completely crashing to the floor. It was time to go, Johnny had embarrassed himself enough for one night.
“Alright Johnny, time to go back to base,” he said, slinging an arm around Soap’s shoulders to keep the man upright.
“No, wanna stay,” Soap grumbled, following Ghost even though the line between his brain and his legs seemed to have been cut.
“Too bad, screw your head back on and you can come back another night,”
Soap grumbled some more put didn’t stop himself from being steered out of the bar, Price mouthing a good luck at Ghost as they passed.
Once they were outside, Ghost heaved in fresh air. The night was fairly quiet, which he appreciated immensely. The pair had been walking through the chilled night air for a few minutes, and Soap hadn’t stopped staring at Ghost.
“Take a picture, it’ll last longer,” the taller man huffed.
Soap’s eyes were drilling a hole in the side of his head, and whereas sober Soap knew to never stare at Ghost, drunk Soap hadn’t seemed to get the memo.
“Ye look like ‘im,” Soap mused, almost tripping over himself like his brain could focus on talking or walking, not both.
“Who?” Ghost asked, holding tighter onto Soap’s shoulders to stop him from falling.
“Simon, the lad I knew as a wee kid,” he said.
Johnny’s face was twisted into a confused pout, his eyebrows screwed up in concentration.
“That so?” Ghost asked, grimacing as he noticed a hill up ahead.
“Ye have the same scar,” Soap said, and again showing his complete lack of awareness of personal space, touched the split in Ghost’s lip through the mask. Ghost jerked his head back on instinct. Normally he was okay with Soap touching him, but not like this, not after he’d spent all night surrounded by too much sensory input to handle.
They soon reached the hill, and Soap looked up at it like it was an enormous cliff that he was being forced to climb.
“Don’ wanna walk up there,” he said, clinging to Ghost. “Carry me,”
“What?” there was no way Soap actually expected him to carry him. Sure, he physically could, but how would it look at base, the scariest, most elusive man on the base seen carrying his drunken boyfriend to bed. Only their closest friends knew they were even partners.
“Please?” Soap begged, but Ghost shook his head.
But a manic grin spread across Soap’s face before he practically flung himself at Ghost, wrapping his arms around Ghost’s neck and his legs around his boyfriend’s waist. Ghost had no choice but to grab onto him to stop him from toppling them both over. Johnny was giggling uncontrollably as Ghost sighed and started to walk again. Johnny pressed his face against Ghost’s neck and hummed happily, his breath causing a shiver to rocket down Ghost’s spine.
A few more silent minutes passed, the only sounds were their footsteps on the pavement.
“Simon?”
“Yeah Johnny?”
“Was-was that ye? As kids I mean?” Soap asked, and despite the stench of alcohol emanating from him and the slur to his words, still managed to sound genuine.
“What do you think?”
Truthfully, Ghost had wondered when Soap would piece it together. He didn’t expect it to be when he was blackout drunk, but their lives rarely went the way they wanted or expected.
“It was, wasn’ it?” Soap had pulled his face away from Ghost and was frowning at him. Ghost sighed.
“You were a funny little kid, I’ll give you that Sergeant,”
Soap adjusted himself in Ghost’s arms, tightening his grip like a koala clinging to a tree branch.
“Missed ye, was sad for weeks when ye left,” he muttered.
Ghost didn’t quite know how to respond to that. When he had finally travelled back to Manchester with his father, he hadn’t been able to get Johnny off his mind. The strange little boy with the wild hair and the gap in his teeth had stuck in the forefront of his thoughts for longer than he would care to admit. Johnny was the first of his peers who treated him like a normal person. Who didn’t laugh at how small and skinny he was, who didn’t point and jeer at his scarred face, and who actually took the time to let him speak when words seemed to evade him.
They finally reached the base, and Ghost made to set Soap down so he could walk to his room by himself, and not have to face the stares of their fellow soldiers. But Soap just clung tighter, fingers digging into Ghost’s jacket. Ghost groaned internally. Trust Soap’s clinginess to put another dent in his reputation.
They made their way through the base, Ghost shooting venomous glares at anyone who looked their way. He spotted a few rookies staring at the pair and whispering, and made a mental note to make them do a couple extra laps during the next training session.
As they passed the room Soap slept in, he glanced down at his boyfriend and sighed. Soap shared the room with Gaz, as they were both Sergeants and Alejandro’s base was smaller than the 141’s regular home base. He really didn’t want to force Soap’s roommate to deal with him, and to be honest, the idea of leaving Soap alone while he was in this state caused some protective part of him to growl lowly in his chest. His room it was.
When he finally managed to ease his door open and shut it behind them with his foot, Soap was half asleep already. He eased the man down onto his bed and set about removing his jacket, boots and cargo pants, leaving him in boxers and a plain t-shirt. He helped Soap under the covers, but when he tried to pull away, Soap’s hand closed around his wrist, pulling him towards the bed with a low whine.
Ghost huffed a laugh and settled down beside him. Soap’s hands gripped the front of his shirt, pulling him closer until Ghost wrapped an arm around him. Their legs tangled together, and Ghost ripped off his balaclava and gently kissed Johnny’s temple. Johnny soon went boneless in his arms, breathing slowed to a calm and steady rhythm, and Ghost followed not long after.
He was woken in the morning by Johnny twisting and grumbling.
“Morning,” Ghost huffed, only to be met with a long groan.
“My fuckin’ head,” Soap grumbled, flipping onto his back and pressing the heels of his palms into his eyes.
“And whose fault is that?” Ghost asked, reaching forward to tangle his hand in Soap’s hair, stroking his scalp.
“Shut the fuck up Simon,” Soap finally turned to face him, sighing, and pressing up into Ghost’s hand.
“How much do you remember?”
“Too much,” Soap replied, his cheeks tinting red at the memories of what he had done the previous night. Ghost huffed a laugh.
“Was that actually you? When we were kids?” the smaller man asked, to which Ghost nodded.
Soap turned to face Ghost and shoved his face into his boyfriend’s chest, inhaling deeply. Ghost pressed a kiss to Soap’s hair.
“Hey Johnny?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m taller,”
“Oh fuck off!”