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Soap stormed into Gaz' room late one evening, his brows furrowed so intensely they were sure to leave some kind of dent.
Gaz was used to the intrusion but not with that kind of ferocity.
"What the fuck?! How could he do this?!! Fucking prick!!" Soap paced back and forth in front of Gaz' desk while muttering and cursing over and over.
Gaz watched for a moment, amused by his friend's apparent dilemma. He'd always have a build up before Soap finally spilled. So he let Soap have his moment. His moment to get his thoughts a bit more in line compared to the evident jumble that it was, with all the random things he muttered.
Then after another moment had passed, Gaz cleared his throat.
Soap stopped and turned to face Gaz.
"What's up Tav?" He knew this dance well. Soap would often come to Gaz for issues, he'd completely avoid Price as he'd be able to weed up too much information.
And Ghost... Soap wouldn't dare try to talk to him. He didn't know what stopped him but he would always get too nervous to share anything of his private life with the Lieutenant. Even though he has found himself saying questionable things to the man over their comms multiple times...
Soap snapped back to the present and looked up to Gaz, who was comfortably resting his cheek on his hand while he watched him expectantly.
Of course he'd spill, he'd just barged into Gaz' room and shouted obscenities without any context.
"That bloody cunt... What the fuck..."
Gaz continued to watch as Soap paced a little more, before he took out his phone and fumbled with it. He seemed to find whatever he had been looking for as his expression turned even darker, his eyes burned with rage and the grip on his phone looked dangerously close to causing damage.
"Take a look at this shit."
Gaz could tell he tried to control himself as much as possible when Soap tossed the phone onto the paperwork in front of him. The urge to lob the phone into the wall must have crossed the Scot's mind multiple times already.
Gaz glanced up at him for a second before he reached over to see what was on the screen. In front of him was a picture taken of another phone screen.
It was of a dating profile.
He looked closer and as he read the details, his expression gradually changed from casual to confusion to disbelief to shock to rage.
He held the phone in his hand and looked at Soap
"What the fuck is this?"
Soap scoffed and answered.
"That's exactly what I thought."
"You found that?"
Soap looked away from Gaz' stern gaze and redirected to the floor with a frown.
"..Was snoopin' around. I got suspicious of him, seemed like he was being more secretive as of late." Soap paused and sighed. "I wasn't... Overly shocked when I found it." He bowed his head and then lifted it to look back at Gaz. "It's made me realise I'm not pissed that it's over, because it's felt like that for ages. But more the audacity of cheating. If he wasn't happy, why the fuck didn't he say so?" Soap trailed off, he muttered a few things to himself that Gaz couldn't hear.
Gaz looked back at the profile again.
"Can you see how many people have viewed/ taken interest?"
Soap shrugged.
"Ye can only see that if you own the account." Gaz hummed and raised a brow. It made Soap wary. What was he thinking?
"Can you gain access to that account again?"
Soap looked at Gaz confused.
"If I'm with him, I'll be able to grab his phone. But I don't really want to be around him right now."
"Fair enough." Gaz said but Soap knew something was brewing in his head. Whether it was good or bad was yet to be discovered.
"But when you do, take a picture of how many people have taken interest. I want to see what we're up against..."
Soap frowned again, utterly confused.
"Uh sure.."
Soap left Gaz' room that day a little less angry but more confused than he had been in a long time.
He'd do as Gaz said, maybe it was for evidence in case anything came up to their superiors about his relationship?
Maybe it was a way to keep Soap in the clear?
---
Later that week, Gaz gets a text from Soap.
Soap: sent photo.
Soap: Found how many other bastards swiped him. Bit pathetic to be honest.
Gaz: *viewed photo"
Gaz: that's pretty poor.
Soap stared at his phone as he waited for a reply. Why did Gaz want to know how popular his ex was on there?
Soap: So why did you need the picture?
Gaz: So we can do better
Soap: ????
Gaz: meet me in 5
Soap tried to stifle the curiosity that brewed inside him as he got closer to Gaz' room.
Why was he being so mysterious? What did he mean 'so we can do better?'
That night, the two of them plotted how they'd make Soap's unknowing shitty ex pay for playing with his feelings.
Their laughter could be heard for hours as they schemed.
Their plan would come to fruition after they had gathered evidence of their own.
---
"So have you set it up?"
"This morning. Doesn't look too bad either." Soap smirked and Gaz couldn't help but smile back. It had been a good while since he'd seen his best mate smile so wide and cheeky.
"Here."
"Huh? You downloaded it too?"
"Yeah to keep track, just in case he deleted it."
Gaz laughed.
"You clever bastard."
"Wouldn't be here if I wasn't." He winked at Gaz and it only made him laugh harder.
Soap pressed on the app icon and it opened up to his profile.
He'd attempted to mirror his ex's profile with how it was laid out. The types of pictures added, the interests and how they were listed.
His name and age were the first few details, followed by a few of his interests. Hiking, sketching and going to the gym.
Of course he'd have to include evidence that he likes those things, just like his ex did. Especially with the gym pictures.
So that was what Gaz and Soap had set out to do over the last week. They went out into the forest just behind the obstacle course and took pictures as though Soap was on a hike.
They weren't lying about that being an interest, but Soap wasn't going to take pictures while in full gear and risking ruining his and multiple people's careers while on an actual hike.
The sketches were easy to take pictures of, he had pages upon pages of them.
The gym pics were their favourite by far.
Soap's soon to be ex, wasn't nearly as built as he was. That was a major win in general. He knew gym pictures attracted a lot of eyes and to be in even better shape was also a win.
A few were just normal ones after a workout, of him looking worn out but still striking a confident pose. Some even featured the equipment he had used.
The last few were pure eye candy.
His top hiked up to show off glistening abs.
A view of his back and how his muscles tensed, all while wearing a pair of booty shorts.
And then the last that was of him topless with a hand on his abs, slowly reaching down all for the viewer to stare at. He knew he looked good and he wasn't going to let his scumbag of an ex make him think he wasn't.
Gaz had sent over some other pictures he'd taken in secret too while they'd been out. Making whoever looked at the pictures know there was someone behind the camera and had been with Soap. It was up to interpretation whether that was platonic or not.
Soap had excitedly included those after Gaz revealed them.
After that the profile was finished. An enticing display of a fun loving, strong and energetic young man, who was quite obviously looking for a companion. He'd made that /very/ clear.
So his ex wouldn't have any room to be confused.
Luckily for Soap and Gaz' plan, it was mandatory for all personnel to have their phones on silent if they are kept on their person. This meant that any notifications from a certain app would go unnoticed until he got back to his room later in the day.
Soap laughed to himself excitedly.
"Cannae believe you made me do that, Ky."
"Why not? It's a bit of fun really." Gaz smirked back at him while he held back an excited laugh too. Soap pocketed his phone as he spent the rest of the day with Gaz in his room. They both worked on their own paperwork.
Gaz finally finished up with the report he was working on before Soap has completely turned both their weeks upsidedown, while Soap worked on calculations for an upcoming demo job he had been assigned to and figure out what kind of explosive was needed for that particular perimeter.
He felt better, that there wasn't a part of him that worried about what he was doing wrong anymore. He knew it wasn't him that was a problem.
---
The moment Soap (and Gaz) has been waiting for showed itself just before lights out.
Soap stood outside of Gaz' door as they chatted away, when his ex walked up to them.
"So this is where you've been all of today then?"
Soap felt a thrill of excitement at the man's tone. He smirked at Gaz, who in turn raised a brow.
Soap turned slowly to answer.
"Aye, been working on some stuff with Gaz. Did ye need something?"
The man's brows furrowed and he shook his head in disbelief.
"Did I need someth- We need to talk."
"Why can't we here?"
"It's a private matter." The man's frustration only grew.
"I have nothing to hide." He turned his head to Gaz, to make a point of being open and then turned back to face his unknowing ex. His smile turned devilish as he spoke again. "Do you have something to hide?"
He gritted his teeth and pulled out his phone. He angrily tapped the screen and then held it out in front of him.
"What the fuck do you call this?"
Soap and Gaz looked at the screen. The perfectly crafted dating profile of a handsome 'John Mactavish' was displayed. Soap and Gaz nodded at the screen, impressed with their work before it was snatched back.
"You don't seem surprised. So when the fuck did you make that? Have you been messing with me this entire time??"
Soap wanted to laugh but the anger bubbles up again inside him. His smile turned evil as he stepped closer.
"I'm just playing the same little game you've been playing for god knows how long." Soap said, his voice low but strong.
His ex blinked and his brows furrowed for a second. Then his eyes grew wide.
"Didn't think I'd notice, did ye? Ye were too busy chasing tail with everyone else, being all secret when we made plans and ye'd cancel. Do ye think I wouldn't start to be a little suspicious?" Soap's gaze pinned him in place. "Only difference is that, I'm not shallow enough to make a profile while taken."
Soap couldn't help but smile as he watched all the emotions pass over his ex's face in light speed. He stepped back to join Gaz and he heard as Gaz tried to cover his amusement.
Soap took his phone out as his ex stood still in front of them, and opened the app.
"Holy fuck Ky..." Gaz and Soap were glued to his phone as the notifications littered his screen.
So many people had viewed his profile. Messages had come pouring in.
They stared at each other and laughed in disbelief.
"I dinnae think it'd work this well."
They were so glued to the phone, they almost forgot the pathetic excuse for a man in front of them.
"What do you mean...?"
Soap looked up from the phone and scoffed.
"Not sure how you've passed selection if you can't work that out."
"Not sure how he did in the first place." Gaz added, an evil glint in his eyes. They laughed to each other.
His ex clenched his fists, he seemed to gain some flair of confidence.
"Is that it then? It's over because you wanted to out do me? Put me down?"
Soap glared at the man, his smile dropped off his face completely.
"It was over when I found your shitty profile on a dating site, while I thought we were doing fine in a closed relationship. It was you who destroyed this, slowly distancing yourself because you couldn't keep it in your pants. It was your fault because you were unfaithful. And all I did was make a profile. I copied how you set yours up just to make it clear as day that I wanted nothing to do with you anymore." Soap paused. "So now you can chase everyone without having to worry about being caught because I know what kind of scumbag you are. Fucking waste of my time." The glare he gave was fueled with all of the fury he had felt over the past few frustration filled months.
"Leave me the fuck alone." He turned his back on the man to face Gaz but it seemed that Gaz had his own part to add.
"That's if anyone even wants you." He smiled again. "Your profile was pretty pathetic, don't really have much going for you anymore now that Soap isn't at your side."
Soap raises a brow at Gaz.
" I noticed some of the pictures you included had both you and Soap on there. Was that because you knew Soap was the one who caught people's eyes? That it was never you?"
Soap's ex walked off in the opposite direction, but Soap didn't pay much attention. Instead he stared at Gaz.
"Wait what do ye mean?"
Gaz shook his head.
"Did you not look at the pictures properly?"
Soap shook his head. Gaz laughed a little.
"Most of them were both of you, which made it even worse he even dared to be so ballsy. He'd picked out pictures of you and him, making it difficult to tell who the profile was for.
I'm sure he had a few dates leave early because it wasn't you that showed up. They both burst into laughter at the absurdity of the situation.
While Soap had lost his partner, he didn't feel so bad about it. He was sure he'd be able to find someone else on that app of his.
Gaz took the phone from Soap's hand and locked the phone.
"I don't think you'll need that though mate."
"Wha- what do you mean?"
Gaz shrugged.
"I know there's someone else that has their eyes on you." Soap's eyes widened ever so slightly. "And I'm sure you feel the same way."
Soap stood there frozen as he did mental gymnastics. Footsteps sounded from the side of them and Gaz turned.
"Perfect timing. Need you to take him to the mess, he hasn't eaten for a bit and he looks like he might pass out."
A low voice that Soap craves to always hear, sounds out next to him.
"Do I have any say in this?"
"Nah, but I'm sure you wouldn't say no anyway."
Gaz smiled over Soap's shoulder and then to the Scot.
"Well, I'll see you later then mate. Have fun."
And then he disappeared into his room.
Soap turned slowly, to come face to face with Ghost.
"How'd you know where-"
"Gaz text me. Looks like you need cheering up eh Johnny?"
There was a glint of something in his eyes, his face hidden by his casual cloth balaclava. Soap could tell there was a smile by the way the fabric shifted.
He realised he noticed a lot of small details about Ghost.
"Uh yeah, wouldn't mind that Lt." Soap smiled back as they turned to walk down the hall.
Soap felt a soft pressure at the small of his back, where Ghost's hand was gently placed. He looked up and met Ghost's eyes that were softer than he'd ever seen them before. Or had they always been like that when he looked at Soap?
Maybe Soap needed to keep a closer eye on his Lt.
Maybe he's wanted that for a long time now, he just hadn't realised 💖