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Nine long, torturous months they had been separated. Nikolai had been on a very long, no-contact op. Price had been pining almost the entire time, from the moment Nik's heli had left the tarmac.
He knew that Nik was doing good work, of course, important work - but that didn't make missing him any easier. What perhaps helped even less was the lull in operations that the 141 had entered. It was a usual thing for them from time to time, to have a rest period, and it was important to have every so often in their line of work. Normally, it would be fine, but without Nik? It felt painfully slow.
For the first few mornings it had been manageable. He and the rest of the 141 had enough to occupy themselves — books, games, whatever else they may wish to turn their hand to — but as time drew on, Nik's absence became more and more noticeable, especially to John. It was driving him insane.
Gaz had become slightly concerned — as had Ghost, oddly enough.
"Somethin's up." Ghost had snuck up on Gaz one afternoon. The sargeant had jumped a mile high; god that big guy was sneaky when he wanted to be."Somethin's bothering him."
"Yeah… Nik's away, and he's got nothing to do." Gaz supplied, folding his arms over his chest.
"We should help." Ghost spoke, hardly missing a beat. "Give him something to distract himself. Maybe… Take him out."
"He doesn't really… Want to go out. He doesn't want to go to the pub. Soap already tried that — and it put him in an even worse mood." Ghost went quiet. He needed to think about this for a moment. It sort of made sense to him; he and Nik went to the pub together often, so of course it would only serve as a reminder that the Russian wasn't with him.
"You got any other ideas?" Ghost asked, trying to brainstorm. Garrick pursed his lips as he thought — what kind of things did his captain like?
"Fishing?"
"… Too slow. His mind'll start to wander."
"We could go with him, though. That might help?" Kyle offered with a shrug. Ghost's gaze turned to rest directly on his sergeant.
"You what? No. you'd hate it, and Johnny is a nightmare when he has to spend hours on end sitting still or quiet, especially with no end in sight."
Kyle sighed, that was the only idea he had really had. "What can we do, then?" He asked, sounding exasperated. Ghost fell quiet, and Kyle waited impatiently for an answer.
"Nothin'." The Lieutenant eventually grunted. "Nothin' to be done, just got to… Ride it out. You know he doesn't like bein' fussed over." And that was that. They'd just have to deal with each day as it came.
It was torture. Not just from the fact that the rest of the 141 had to internally reckon with Price's suffering, but also from the fact that Price had become so short-tempered it was bordering on insufferable. He snapped at almost everything, not unlike a rabid dog.
"'D rather have dealt with Nik." Soap muttered one lunch time. "His pining would've been easier to put up with - he wouldn't be in such a bad mood every other minute."
"Just wait it out," Gaz told him, offering the same advice that Ghost had given him, trying to provide… Something. Kyle wasn't quite sure what he was trying to provide to Soap. "It's not long till he comes back…" At this, Johnny chuffed - barely a chuckle. He hadn't been dealing with the Captain's bad moods too well, clearly.
"Still too fuckin' long."
The day that Nik was due to return, according to the paperwork that John had managed to secure, the Captain camped out in the hanger by the tarmac. He had started around two in the morning, and refused to move for anything. Refused to go for breakfast when the mess opened, refused to grab himself water. If Nik was coming home today, he was not going to miss it for fucking anything.
It's midday when Nik returned. It takes John a Herculean effort to not tackle the Russian as soon as he was out of the heli, duffel clutched in one hand. Thankfully, once Nik had spotted him he didn't need to wait for contact — as soon as Nikolai saw his lover, he tossed his bag aside and headed straight for him.
He didn't run, but his legs were long enough to make closing the gap just as quick.
Nik was the one to begin the embrace; tight arms clasping at every part of John he could reach. He buried his face into John's neck, huffing as much of the man and his scent as he could into his lungs.
Price grunted, letting Nik squeeze him as hard as he wanted to. He liked it, really - he had missed it, the comforting weight and pressure the Russian's arms had.
John shifted his head, peppering kisses to the side of Nik's face. "Missed you." The Brit grumbled, and a low grunt of agreement rumbled through the Russian's chest.
Slowly, Nik shifted his weight and bent down slightly, being careful as John moved with him, to pick up his bag. Once he had the bag in hand, he began to shuffle and herd John slowly towards his quarters. John figured it was either to fuck or to sleep, but John's bet was firmly on the latter - the former would likely come tomorrow.
The pair ignored the stares and glances they got from the other soldiers on base as they made their way through the hallway. Nik barrelled his way through the groups cluttering and clogging up the hall, grunting half-worded apologies until they finally managed to get to John's quarters.
Nik opened the door, dragging the captain inside and dumping his bag once again. He finally pulled away, though only slightly, giving himself just enough space to start stripping himself off. "I hate when they send one of us off like that," The Russian grumbled; clearly the pilot had been just as happy as John whilst they had been separated. John slowly followed suit in removing his clothes, but didn't take his eyes off of the hulking man in front of him.
"It go well, then? Or..?"
"Да, да, it was fine… But you were not there. Whenever I had a spare moment, my mind would drift to you." He sighed. "And it was torture, not being able to tell you it was going well." As Nik removed his shirt, John spied a new, just healed scar on his lover's shoulder. Carefully, he reached out, brushing his thumb over the scarred skin. Nik barely flinched. "That was when I had wanted to speak with you most…" He admitted, quietly. "They said it was 'close' but wouldn't tell me much more… Would not let me even look at the paperwork - I'm sure you can find it, if your curiosity ever-"
"I don't want to." John shook his head as he cut him off. "I don't want to know how close I came to losing you."
John had seen much in his time in the military, there was no doubt about that, but one thing that never got any easier, was seeing someone be shipped to their next of kin in a box. He hated it even when he hadn't known the person that well, and he despised the thought of losing someone so close to him. It made his chest tighten in a way that made it a chore to breathe, even with nothing constricting his chest physically.
Nik wrapped his arms around John again, pulling him close and letting the man feel the strong, steady beat of his heart. "I am not lost, John… And I will not be lost unless I have a chance to say a farewell to you, hm?" He rubbed the Captain's back, letting the man relax a bit. John pressed his face to Nik's skin, revelling in the contact they could finally have, and letting the rest of the world fall away.
They stayed like that for a few minutes, committing the feel of the other to memory again in the comfortable silence. That was, until Nik spoke; "John, I must lay down… I am far too tired to stay standing." He yawned, and John slowly pushed against the pilot's chest, steering him back until he fell back on the bed. After a bit of shuffling, John was pulled on top. He tried to shuffle and get comfortable on Nik's chest, but the Russian began to grumble, tightening his grip around John. "Stop… Just lie still… Sleep." His voice was growing thicker as he no doubt tried to fight the sleep that was eager to claim him.
Not wanting to keep Nikolai awake, John fell still. Within the minute, Nik was snoring — it was loud, and occasionally disjointed. It was like having his head close to an oncoming freight train. But, despite the fact that it took him a little bit longer to fall asleep, his mind unused to the Russian's loud snores after so long, Price would not change anything about this arrangement, for the world. He was just happy Nik was home.