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“John, what’s taking so long?” Price says, as soon as he picks up.
“Fucking guards won’t let me in” Soap huffs.
“Alright, I’ll come down, don’t annoy them any more” Price grumbles.
“I’m delightful, dad, I don’t know what you mean”
“Yeah alright, sit tight”
__
“What was that?” Ghost asks as Price pockets his phone, Price sighs.
“My son, guards won’t let him in”
“Son?” Alejandro stutters out, “Gaz isn’t enough, hermano, you have another?” He laughs.
“They’re carbon copies of each other unfortunately, go find Kyle by the way, bring him to the mess hall” Price instructs, Alejandro nods and follows him out the door. Ghost following behind naturally, not wanting to be left alone.
“I didn’t know you had another son”
“John, adopted him the same time as Kyle, couldn’t bare to separate them” Price says, smiling.
“Sentimental old man” Ghost says, smiling underneath his mask.
“They were good kids, more grown than half the men around here when they were 7. Both saw what I did and wanted to be just like me no matter how much I tried to throw them off military careers. I was in the reserves from when i adopted them until they were 16”
“That’s why you’re not higher than captain” Ghost fills in, Price hums in agreement. The rest of the short walk was spent in silence, as they approached the gates a small figure was sat on the curb, with something black laying next to him.
“John!” Price shouts, startling the guards. The figure looks up and waves from the floor, as they got closer, Price opens the gates himself and stands in front of the figure. Ghost follows and gets a proper good look at him.
Johnny.
It’s his Johnny.
His Johnny sat on the curb with a grown out mohawk, dyed a deep red. His Johnny sat on the curb with his prosthetic sat on the ground next to him. His Johnny looking over ecstatic to see his father. His Johnny looking happy.
Ghost was pulled out of his thoughts by Price pulling Johnny up from the group.
“Put your leg back on John, we’ve got a job to do”
“You know, I still don’t know what that job is” Johnny quips back as he steadies himself. They begin walking, Price giving Ghost a one over as he stares at his son. John doesn’t spare him a glance. Ghost pulls himself from where the ground feels like it’s swallowed him and starts walking behind them.
“We’ve got a few bomb threats, and one bomb that I need you to reconstruct”
“Oh, I thought you were gonna give me a challenge.”
“It’s a challenge to get you out your damn house” Price grumbles. Ghost tunes out the rest of their conversation. All he can think about is that his Johnny is his captain’s son. His Johnny doesn’t recognise him, obviously he doesn’t, he’s wearing the mask but it still stings a little. His place of sanctuary when he’s on leave, Johnny’s house, could have been interrupted by his captain any minute he was there. Not that Price is unwelcome, but surprises are never nice. How did he not know? He knew Johnny’s dad was a Captain, he knew he had a brother called Kyle in the military too. How he didn’t figure it out sooner was beyond him.
They walked into the mess tent and Gaz practically screamed as he saw John. Running up to him and almost tackling him to the ground with a strong hug. They were talking loudly, but there were no words anyone could understand. Getting the attention of most other people in the room, considering Soap looked anything but military regulations. The fact he had obvious ear and eyebrow piercings didn’t help.
“Alright boys, catch up later, Alejandro this is John” Price says, Alejandro holds his hand out and John shakes it firmly.
“Nice to meet you, Rudy’s on his way” he says to Soap then to Price, who nods.
“Okay, we’ll wait for Rudy and then move somewhere a little more private.” Price smiles and sits down at an empty table, Alejandro sitting opposite him. Ghost leans down to Price’s ear.
“Can I take your son outside to speak to him?”
“What? Yeah, course. What’s wrong?” Price looks in his eyes, clearly searching for something and not quite finding it.
“I’ll tell you later” Ghost says, Price nods and looks at John.
“Ghost’s gonna take outside for a talk John, don’t let him intimidate you” Price smiles, conveying to his son that there’s nothing to worry about. Johnny scoffs slightly before looking at Ghost expectantly, he starts walking and John follows. Ghost walks quickly and John has to almost run to keep up with him, reminding him of what it’s like to walk with his boyfriend.
“Dad said outside, why’re we going into another building?” John asks, Ghost just stares, opening the door to the 141 rooms. “Plan on shooting me, I’d ask you do it with a pistol from like 1800s America, you look like a guy who has one of em” He jokes, Ghost glares again and Soap swears he sees something familiar in those eyes. Ghost’s room is at the end of the corridor and he got to it quickly, once again holding the door open for Soap who walked in suspiciously.
“You talk?” He asks, looking around the room.
“I do” Simon responds, Johnny’s neck snaps back to him. Simon pulls the mask off quickly, to stare at his boyfriend with his full face.
“Simon” Johnny whispers. Walking back over to him and lifting his hands to cradle Simon’s face. “Fuck”
“I’m sorry” Simon whispers. Johnny’s eyes dart over his face before taking his hands off Simon’s face and quickly wrapping them around Ghost’s torso. He took a few moments before hugging Johnny back, just as tight, Johnny sighed happily into Simon’s shoulder.
“I don’t know why you’re apologising but you don’t need to. I’m always happy to see you, just didn’t know my Simon was the same Simon my dad’s been worrying about when he comes to visit” Johnny leans back and looks at Simon’s face. He was crying.
“He worries about me?” Simon sniffs.
“Of course he does, you’re his best man. He’s all ‘I hope Ghost’s alright, told me he didn’t want me to visit but I think I should just in case’ or ‘I hope Ghost has enough food for the week, he’s a growing lad’ “ John smiles, wiping away the tears that were drying on his face, Simon laughs.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you”
“You’re not meant to tell me, are you? Plus maybe if I told you my dad’s name we’d have known sooner. Nothings wrong, I’m not mad, we’re good. Just maybe we’ll have to go talk to the rest of your group and explain things” Johnny explains calmly. Simon nods along. Johnny leans in and kisses Simon on the nose, Simon kisses his cheek in retaliation. Johnny goes to move out of Simon’s arms but he holds on tighter.
“Just let me hold you for a second.” Simon whispers, Johnny smiles and leans back in, holding his head into his chest and sighing contently.
__
They walk back a little closer together, and it’s noticed as they walk back to the mess hall. Alejandro smirks as they walk in, his arm tightening around Rudy, the same way it does before he tells a horrendous joke, Ghost sighs.
“Convert John to the dark side, Ghost?” He smirks, Rudy shakes his head with a smile.
“I’ve been on the dark side awhile my friend” John laughs, sitting next to his dad, and opposite his brother. Ghost grabs a spare chair and sits at the head of the table, next to Soap who shuffles a little towards him. “Dad, I uh have something to tell you”
“You can’t come out again, son, you did that already, twice and a third by accident just then”
“No, you know my boyfriend?”
“The mysterious lad whose clothing you keep stealing, no technically I don’t” Price smiles, finding himself funny, Soap rolls his eye. “Yes, what about him?”
“Well the funny thing is-“
“J just spit it out” Gaz butts in.
“Your Simon is also my Simon” Johnny says without taking a breath.
“My Simon- what are you talking about?” Price asks, screwing up his face in utter confusion. Gaz looks between Ghost and Soap a few times before his jaw dropped open.
“Dude! I know personal details about your dick!” He shouted, again drawing attention of everyone in the room.
“No, wait, hang on” Price said, pointing between the two. Looking down at his son who gave him a sheepish smile. “The boyfriend you met in Glasgow outside a pub, that you’ve had for 3 years, that I’ve never met, is my best soldier that I’ve had for 5?”
“Yes sir” Ghost responds.
“Why didn’t you tell me, either of you?” He sounds a little sad which breaks John’s heart.
“No, Dad, I promise, we didn’t know. Like at all. We genuinely didn’t make the connection.” Soap reaches out and places a comforting hand on his father’s shoulder.
“I suppose this stops me having to sleep in my office while you stay on base for the week.” He sighs, “Jesus I can’t keep track of you guys anymore, just make sure to tell me first when you get engaged”
Soap’s face goes red and Ghost’s eyes widen, Alejandro belly laughs at them. “Don’t suppose we could do some work now?” Ghost coughs.
-
They’d figured out their plans for the week, Soap said it’d take 3 days to reassemble the bomb, and then on the 4th day he can make a new one exactly the same, the 5th he’d set it off (in a controlled environment) and the 6th/7th he’d spend writing up reports. Easy enough.
After their meeting, Price sent them all to get some sleep as it was nearing midnight, but he didn’t say anything when he saw Ghost follow him back to his office instead of Soap back to their rooms. He held the door open for him and shut it firmly behind him.
“You alright, Simon?” He asked, sitting down at his desk and placing his hat on top of the lamp.
“I should probably be asking you that, sir. Are you sure you’re okay with me and Johnny because if you’re not I-“
“If you’re gonna tell me you’ll break up with him, I’ll break your fucking neck, son”
“No I was going to say that I can’t live without him” Ghost finished quietly. Price knew that was a conversation for another time, right now Simon needed to be reassured.
“I am completely okay with it, you know why?” Simon shakes his head, “Because the only person he ever let call him Johnny was my mother before she passed away. After she passed, John would almost punch anyone who tried to call him Johnny, and even before he’d tell them to not call him that. But when you do, he melts.”
Price stops to check that he’s saying the right things, despite them being true, he didn’t know if they were helping but when he looked at Ghost, his eyes were full of wonder and admiration. “What you two have is beautiful. I’ve never seen my boy so at peace with someone. You know you were part of my ‘work family’ before, but now you’re part of my actual family, and our family is never going to let you go because you’re just as good for us as we are for you.”
“I love Johnny. So much it kinda scares me sometimes. Every time I touch him I have this overwhelming urge to never let go in case he disappears” Simon says, looking down at his hands, laughing a little at the sound of his own voice.
“And he’s the same. Neither of you had the best start in life but trust me when I say you two are each others end. John will not find a better man for him than you, and you will not find a better man for you than John. It’s just the way life is.” Price smiles. “Now, go back to your room, stop worrying and both of you take the morning off. After lunch I need you to train some rookies though”
“Yes sir” Simon says, rearranging his feelings, going back to Ghost. He got up and walked to the door, just before he left Price spoke,
“Send John in, I wanna check he’s alright.” Price smiles and Ghost leaves. Price stares at the door while waiting for his son.
“Alright, Da?” Soap said as he walked in confidently.
“That’s what I wanted to ask you; you didn’t get to introduce me to your boyfriend on your own time”
“I’m actually quite glad he’s someone you already like, he’s really worried” Soap says, Price sighs.
“I don’t know how to convince him that I approve or whatever he’s looking for”
“That’s my job, don’t worry about it, he’ll be top form tomorrow morning” Soap smiles. Price gets up and they close in for a short, comforting hug.
“Get some sleep, son”
__
Soap almost ran back down the corridor to Ghost’s room and opened the door loudly, announcing his presence so Ghost didn’t get jumpy. He walked up to Ghost’s bed and fell onto it with a groan and closed his eyes. A few seconds later he felt a gradual heavier weight settle across his body. Ghost tucked his head in the crook of Johnny’s neck.
“I love you” Johnny sighed contently.
“I love you too” Simon responded, curling his arms around Johnny’s waist.
“I don’t think you fully understand,” Johnny says lifting Simon’s head up to look into his eyes. “I. Love. You.” He exaggerated passion into each word making Simon blush.
“I know” He smiled. “You know Johnny, now I’ve technically gotten your dad’s blessing-”
“Simon-” Johnny interrupted, knowing where this was going.
“Shush. I didn’t buy you a ring or anything but I figured I should use this one.” Simon sat up and fished his dog tags from underneath his t-shirt. He opened the clasp carefully to slide a ring off from in between the tags and shut it just as carefully. Johnny sat up, facing him.
“You’re doing this in the barracks with my dad a few doors down?”
“11 doors down and yes. I don’t know when I’ll see you again after this. So, if you’ll let me finish, my mum told me to give this to my future wife and since that’s not really my style, I figured you’re good enough” Johnny laughs but doesn’t interrupt again. “And I won’t get down on one knee cause I won’t get back up again, but, John MacTavish would you marry me?”
“Fucking sap”
“Why’re you crying then? Answer the question before I get nervous” Simon said with a smile as he wiped his thumb under Johnny’s eye.
“Of course, I’ll marry ye.” He laughs, loudly full of life. Johnny took the simple silver chain around his neck and added the ring to it, since it was probably not the best idea to wear it on his fingers when working with explosives. “My dad’s gonna have a fit, having another son in the military”
“I was thinking of retiring actually” Simon confessed quietly.
“What? Really?”
“I should have retired probably a decade ago but I didn’t have anything to go home to, and now I have you and there’s no major need for me to be doing anything here. I kinda want a dog, Johnny”
“We’ll talk to dad before I go home, okay?” He said, kissing Simon’s forehead softly. “For now, we sleep”
-
The next morning, Simon woke up with Johnny’s familiar weight in his arms and the sun blaring through the blinds. For a second, he panicked thinking he was late somewhere before remembering Price told them they have the morning off. He didn’t move, hardly breathed, but he stared at John. Looking so utterly peaceful and at home in his arms, something he never thought he’d see. Then it hit him. He was going to marry Johnny.
Marriage was something hadn’t thought about since he was a kid, just something that adults did and it didn’t affect him. It never affected him until now, and he was so excited? He tried to figure out where the sudden excitement of a lifelong commitment came from and he just couldn’t. All he knew was that it was a commitment he’d make a thousand times over because Johnny was worth it.
He was dragged out his thoughts by feeling Johnny try to bury his head further into Simon’s chest as he slowly woke up. Simon chuckled and ran his hand through his mohawk gently. Soap grumbled something that Simon thought was a ‘good morning’
“We have the morning off” Simon says quietly and Johnny tiredly whoops into his chest. They stay in silence for ten minutes, just breathing each other in, something they hadn’t done for a while. Until a knock came on the door.
“It’s Dad!” Price called through the door, “I have the key so I’m gonna unlock it slowly and then come in, alright? Make yourselves decent!” He said, slightly playful. They didn’t move, they both had clothes on, and were in a perfectly decent position. Lord knows Price has seen Soap in much more compromising situations. Price kicked the door gently and pushed in with his back.
“Listen, I brought you breakfast because I didn’t think you’d turn up in time and I don’t want you missing out. It’s all that was left which means no eggs but I know you don’t eat them anyway Ghost” He said, not even looking at them as he set up plates of food on Ghost’s small table in the corner.
“Fucking outstanding” Soap smiles, up at his dad whose finally turned around. He narrowed his eyes at Soap.
“Somethings different about you” He said suspiciously
“What do you mean?” Soap asked, obviously something was different about him. He was engaged but they hadn’t discussed that properly yet.
“There’s something in the air, but I have to go to a meeting so you gotta get your story straight by the afternoon” He said seriously, then added a smile at the end as he walked back towards the door.
“Thank you, Dad” Soap said, Price’s smile widened.
“Okay, have a good morning, both of you. Love you!”
“Love you too!” Johnny called before they heard the click of the door closing and the second of the door locking again. Simon, who’d mostly kept his head down throughout this, looked up down at Johnny confused.
“Do you guys do that all the time?” He asked, feeling slightly stupid when Soap turned to look at him, mirroring his confusion from a few seconds ago.
“Do what?”
“Tell each other that you love them” He clarified. Realisation dawned on Johnny’s face as he slowly nodded.
“A year after he adopted me, I had a breakdown and told him that there was no way anyone would or could ever love me and he said he’d remind me every day if he has to that I have a family and that him and Gaz love me.” He smiled, his years before Price were hell, and he hardly thought of them but his years afterwards were blissful.
“That’s, actually very nice”
“Yep. That’s why I tell you so often too. Cause I know you can’t believe that I love you” Johnny says sitting up, cupping Ghost’s jaw in his hand.
“I still don’t understand why you do” Simon responded, quietly.
“Love isn’t something to be understood, it’s just something to be cherished”
“Who said that?”
“Me” Johnny grinned, moving to get off the bed before Simon playfully hit him with a pillow.
-
Soap jogged up to where Price and Ghost were standing with the new recruits who were taking a 5-minute breather. Shamelessly, Soap declared he needed a piss before going so Ghost went on his own. Price was answering a question as Soap approached and flashed Ghost a wide smile. He was staring at Ghost and didn’t notice Price stop talking.
“Are you kidding me?” Price says, his face dropped in something akin to surprise.
“I wasn’t that late” Soap shrugs.
“No, you dickhead,” Price lent forward and flicked Soap’s dog tags, in turn flicking the ring.
“Oh”
“Where did that come from?”
“Uhhhh”
“Ach don’t tell me you...” He looked between Soap and Ghost and took a few steps back, bringing his hands to his hat and taking it off, putting it to his chest.
“YOU GOT ENGAGED?!” He shouted, gaining the attention of everyone around. “MY SON. IS. ENGAGED.” He ran around a bit, before running at Soap and tackling him in a hug. “Oh, you big bastard I’m so happy for you” He murmured into Soap’s shoulder.
“Thanks, da”