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Ghost was not a relationship expert.
That much was obvious to everyone who knew him. Be it, acquaintances, or friendships, he was always a little awkward. Up until joining the 141 he had viewed relationships and attachments as a weakness, and he still did a little bit. But he had learned that those weaknesses were okay. That sometimes it was okay to be weak. But his years of avoiding said attachments had left him severely emotionally stunted.
And to him, it was never more apparent than when he was with Soap. But the craziest part was, Soap never seemed to take notice of it.
That man was a relationship expert.
Everyone who came into contact with Soap loved him. He always seemed to be able to pick up on the tiniest of queues. Knew just how much to push or not to push.
He was great and everyone knew it.
And for whatever reason, Ghost sometimes considered it stupidity, he had chosen Ghost.
Had chosen Simon.
Despite his best efforts to avoid it, Ghost chose Soap too. Practically against his will. But now, they had talked it over, put in the work. And they moved forward with their relationship.
Ghost was Soap’s boyfriend.
And Soap was his.
Ghost was the worst when it came to romance. He didn’t know the first thing about it. Soap could have done so much better than him. And he reminded him of that fact often, frequently being met with hands around his waist and a quiet, “Nothin’ is better than this.”
I mean, what the hell?
Soap always knew how to send him into a flustered blushing mess. He was really good at this.
Ghost’s insecurities came to a head with the approach of a holiday.
Valentine’s Day.
He had never had to think about it before. It was always just another day for him. But now? Yikes.
Soap hadn’t even mentioned it. Ghost was left wondering if he was supposed to do something or not. Were they the sort of couple to do stuff for Valentine’s Day? Well, they were a couple weren’t they. They loved each other. That’s supposed to be the thing, right?
How the hell did people just figure this out every year? How did they just know?
Soap had been so quiet about it; Ghost began to wonder if he even knew the holiday was coming up. That was until the morning of, when Soap rolled over and pressed what felt like a thousand kisses onto his face before grabbing him by the cheeks and aggressively hissing, “I love you so goddamn much, Simon Riley, it’s unbelievable.”
Ghost was left a little stunned as he had rolled out of bed and went into the bathroom to shower. That was not normal Johnny behavior.
Oh god.
He knew.
And Ghost had nothing!
What the hell was he supposed to do?
He swallowed and got up, quickly scurrying out of the room. He needed advice. Fast.
They were spending the holiday in Las Almas. Pure happenstance, but Ghost was grateful for it now. He knew who to go to for this crisis. He moved quickly through the base, making his way to Alejandro’s office. He thought he heard voices behind the door, so he rapped on it three times before throwing it open.
He stared for a moment as Alejandro and Rudy quickly separated themselves from where they had been very obviously making out. Alejandro had Rudy pinned onto his desk and they both let out a string of Spanish curses.
Ghost let them scramble for a moment before speaking, “You should really lock the door if you’re gonna do that in here.”
“What is so important that you had to barge in here first thing in the morning, hermano?” Alejandro demanded while Rudy just covered his face with his hands, hiding his blush.
“It’s Valentine’s Day.”
“Aye. It is. Which was something I was trying to take care of right now, Ghost!” Alejandro gestured to where Rudy was, still sitting on the desk. Rudy blushed even harder.
“How do you do it?”
Alejandro raised an eyebrow, “If you need someone to teach you about the birds and the bees, Price is down the hall. He’s the closest thing to a parental figure on base right now.”
“Not sex, Alejandro!” Ghost said, frustrated, “How do you do Valentine’s Day?”
Rudy peaked out from between his fingers, “What?”
“I’ve never done it before. I don’t know how.”
Alejandro and Rudy looked at each other. Both relaxing.
They invited Ghost to sit and explained the general idea to him. For them, they planned on having a romantic picnic somewhere nearby and just spending the day together. That wasn’t going to work for he and Soap, though. They had work to take care of separately. And he couldn’t just copy Rudy and Alejandro, they explained that he needed to be thoughtful.
He didn’t know how to be thoughtful! How do you just be thoughtful?
Valentine’s day was hard, and he was beginning to hate it.
He thought about it all day. Trying to come up with a gift of some sort. But there wasn’t enough time to get anything. And he wasn’t crafty, he couldn’t make something. His hands were big and dumb and stupid.
He was running stealth drills with some of Alejandro’s soldiers. They were in some woods with a few abandoned buildings scattered about. Alejandro’s Vaqueros weren’t bad at stealth, far from it in fact. They were well trained. But Ghost was far better. He was able to find and sneak up on most of them. Taking them out with a fake foam practice knife. Normally he would have found this to be fun, but today. His heart just wasn’t in it. His mind on other things.
When he had found the last soldier, he sent them back to the base. Taking some time to himself to pace around the training area. Feeling quite hopeless. What a poor excuse for a boyfriend he was.
Then, like a shining beacon, he saw it. In one of the abandoned buildings. A vase, miraculously still intact. It was off white, blue, and green plants decorating it. It was sitting on its side on a shelf hanging halfway off the wall. It looked a little chipped in places, but that didn’t matter.
He quickly scooped of the vase and hurried back out to get to work.
When Soap returned back to, he and Simon’s room at the end of the day, he was feeling drained and sore. These Vaqueros were rowdy and strong when it came to sparring sessions. When he opened the door, he hadn’t been expecting Ghost to be back before him, so the sight before him made him freeze.
He blinked a few times, hand still resting on his neck from where he had been rubbing it. There was Ghost, standing a little awkwardly in the middle of the room. There was a little path of flower petals leading from the door over to where he stood. At the sight of Soap standing there, he held out a worn and tattered looking vase that was filled with wildflowers.
“Hey, Johnny.”
“H-hey, LT.” He said a little confused.
“I wanted to, y’know.” Ghost swallowed, “Ask you to be my valentine.”
The words sounded incredibly scripted as he forced them out of his mouth, and they most definitely were. Ghost felt himself beginning to sweat with every heartbeat that Johnny just stood there. Maybe he had done this wrong. This was dumb. Why did he think this was a good idea?
He deflated a bit with a sigh, “Sorry, Johnny. I don’t know the first thing about romantic gestures.”
Suddenly he was being practically tackled by Soap. He had to practically juggle the vase to prevent it from dropping onto the ground. He spilled some of the water in the process.
“J-Johnny?”
“You idiot!” Soap grabbed his face and kissed him fiercely through his mask, “This is the most romantic thing anyone has ever done for me!”
Ghost blinked as Soap pulled away to examine the flowers. Ghost handed them over as Soap carefully and gently touched some of the petals.
“Really?”
“Aye ya daft bastard! No one’s ever given me flowers before!”
That irritated Ghost slightly. How dare nobody give Johnny flowers! He deserved a hundred flowers! Ghost made a note to do it more often.
“I wasn’t sure what to do.” He admitted.
Soap looked back up at him with a soft smile, “I didn’t expect you to do anything, Si. I didn’t want to pressure you with any of this business. So, the fact you put in so much effort is just…”
He stood on his toes and kissed Ghost again. Simon hummed into it. When Soap pulled away, he was grinning.
“I have somethin’ for you too!”
“You do?” Ghost had never been given something on Valentine’s Day before and he felt his heart flutter a bit.
Soap moved past him and over to his desk. He set the vase and flowers down before opening a drawer and retrieving a piece of paper. He marched back over to Ghost, looking a little sheepish as he held it out to him. Ghost took it from him gently and flipped it over.
The page had clearly been torn out of Soap’s beloved journal. It was the equivalent of Ghost cutting off some of the stitching of his mask and giving it to him as a gift. Extremely important.
The drawing on the paper was even more important.
It was of his mask. Not of him in the mask. Just the mask. Lying limp and empty on a table. The hard shell sticking up around the loose fabric. It was beautiful, done in dark black ink. It represented a lot.
The sight of Simon without the mask was a rarity few were awarded privilege to. Even rarer, however, was Simon without the mask on his person entirely. Even when he removed it, he had it in his hand, or his pocket, maybe tucked into his belt. Soap could only have kept this drawing a secret if Ghost had left the mask alone with him for an extended period of time.
The drawing was a thank you.
For his trust.
For his love.
He looked up from the sheet to see Soap chewing his bottom lips nervously, waiting to gage Ghost’s reaction.
Ghost quickly stepped forward, ripping off his mask and tossing it to the side, onto the bed. He pressed his mouth to Soap’s, feeling suddenly ravenous for the taste of him. Soap practically squeaked into it as he tipped his head back to allow Simon to press in farther. Ghost grabbed him by his hips and lifted, relishing in the surprised gasp Johnny let out.
Ghost moved forward to set him on his desk. Standing between his legs and kissing with an uncontained hunger now. Soap reached forward to pull Simon’s shirt off but Ghost stopped him.
“Wait, Love.”
“W-what?”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
Soap looked at him confused before realization dawned on his features and he rolled his eyes a little.
“Yes. Yes, I will. I will be your valentine, Simon Riley.”
Ghost liked the buzz that he felt shoot up his spine. Leaning forward and reconnecting their mouths, speaking against Soap.
“All mine.”