Chapter Text
Another day, another mission on the field.
Just more men endlessly sent out to murder each other, all under the name of "peace" but as always, no matter how many corpses would be laid down during the operation, Ghost wouldn’t be part of them
The man was out killing, wielding his blades in the night like a modern grim reaper all while being watched by his own little guardian angel.
He secured another kill, dropping on his target from above and ending his victim without a single scream and he heard an admirative whistle through the coms.
"Bloody hell, Lt..."
The tall man shook his shoulders, hiding again in the shadows to keep moving.
"Focus, Johnny…"
"Focused as one can be, sir," Soap's voice crackled again in his walkie, "I'm not takin' me eyes away from you with such a show~"
Ghost rolled his eyes but under the mask, a light smirk was on his lips.
Far from here, laying down in tall grass on a hill, Soap was positioned over his sniper, an eye locked in his scope to follow his lieutenant.
They were often on missions together like that now. The two men worked like a well oiled machine, like professional dancers who knew their steps by heart, trusting each other with their life.
While Soap enjoyed fighting alongside his teammate, he had to admit he was also a fan of watching over him like that, unseen but present.
Ghost's skills would never cease to amaze him and he truly felt like he had VIP access to a personal show, no matter how morbid it was.
He would guide his lieutenant and the man would follow his words perfectly, flawlessly as they both made their way through the area.
A movement further down the dark street alerted him.
"Hide" He commanded briefly and Ghost disappeared in a corner.
He aimed at his new targets, two armed men slowly patrolling on the street.
A slow exhale, one man down, the other following just as fast before he could run away.
"Ladies first," He said with a smile,
"What a gentleman," Ghost commented, quickly walking past the two bodies.
It was no lie that Soap liked his lieutenant quite a bit.
Soap was strong, good looking and everyone liked him. He knew he could easily get anyone around base to be his partner, alphas, omegas and betas altogether but no, he only had eyes for the behemoth of a man that was Ghost, the asocial, terrifying, faceless soldier of the 141.
Ghost had quite a long list of achievements on his resume, some more legal than others but there was one that made all of it stand out even more.
The scariest soldier of the task force was an omega.
A few days later, back in the UK, Soap was stretching his shoulder with relief as he just walked out of the helo.
"Home sweet hoooome," He sighed, happy that the mission was a success but still feeling worn out like an old rag.
Ghost didn't seem phased at all, as usual and was already leaving the tarmac to drop his equipment.
Soap smiled at him, trotting by his side,
"How's it feel to go on leave, Lt ?"
"Feels good knowing you don't get one" The man replied without looking at him, a hint of tease in his voice.
"Prick," Soap smirked,
"Don't cry too much when I'm gone," Ghost added, still followed by Soap,
"Oh, but I will, sir. Missing you and everything. Might even name a towel after you and talk to it so I don't lose sanity. I'm sure it won't have jokes as bad as yours, though"
"Jesus..." Ghost sighed at the idea of a towel named after him.
The man left later that same day after giving out their report. He said some brief goodbyes to his captain, Gaz and Soap and left for his home.
Later in the evening, Soap joined other soldiers who were chilling in a resting room.
He let himself crash in a chair, exhaling deeply.
The guys appeared to already be in a strong conversation and stopped to greet him.
"Look who's back from mission," One of them said with a smile, "You look like shit"
Soap smirked, knowing how tired he looked,
"Yeah. Can you believe Ghost gets two weeks of leave and I don't ? Unbelievable"
"Yeah, we were talkin’ about it. Heard it's medical,” Another one pitched in from his seat, "Pretty sure it's for his heat"
"We can't assume," Gaz said, just entering the room as well, walking up to them to sit next to Soap.
Soap wondered a bit about it. It was true that any rut leave would be labeled as a ‘medical leave’ but this was just a rumour so he didn't bother thinking about the possibility much more.
"Well, bet he doesn't have anyone to spend it with," Another soldier grunted, "No one wants an omega that bites… It’s no wonder he doesn’t have a mate at his age…"
The other men around rolled their eyes at the free insults.
Soap hummed with a smile from his chair,
"Hmhm, remind me who got rejected by him and had to spend his own rut alone ? Even got scruffed if I remember correctly,"
The soldier frowned at him,
"Omegas aren't supposed to scruff alphas," He sneered, baring his teeth, "He's only doing that because he got a higher rank, bossing everyone around like he's better than us and then he gets all the leaves he wants for his damn cycle,"
His friend sitting next to him sighed with disapproval,
"Shut up, Mike. We all get medical leaves here..."
"Maybe you wouldn't be 'bossed around' if you had a better attitude, " Soap said again, resting in his chair with his head tilted back to rest, eyes closed.
The man glared at him once more, looking increasingly pissed off by the remarks,
"You're the only one he's nice to, Soap. I don't know what you did but he's definitely playin’ favourites and I don't like that,"
"He really isn't... You really gotta piss him off to get a reprimand from him, " Gaz supported Soap, much to Mike's despair, "But that’s right though, Ghost does like Soap better for some reason,"
"True. He tells everyone who gets too close to fuck off, especially alphas" A soldier added and the rest of the group nodded too.
"Especially alphas…" Gaz echoed to push the point, raising an eyebrow at Soap.
The sergeant had to straighten a bit in his chair, defending himself,
"Hey, hey, I didn't do anything special, okay ? He's just my friend. Must be my overwhelming charisma for sure, strong enough to bypass even my horrible, secondary gender" He joked.
The guys laughed and kept teasing Soap about it, trying to get his secret for taming the great big Ghost.
Mike didn’t add anything else, deciding to pout since everyone was against him.
There were always tons of rumours to be heard about Ghost and Soap was used to it. It was hard to know what was true and what wasn’t but he didn’t mind.
He knew he liked Ghost and that the man also liked him a bit.
It was true that the omega had always been snarling at any alpha trying to approach him and it was never in a soft way. The task force lost count of the number of alphas he manhandled and threatened to make sure they dropped any idea of getting intimate with him.
Soap was always shocked to learn that so many tried to get his attention despite his obvious lack of interest and menacing aura.
It showed that no matter how many things he achieved in his life as a soldier, these men were still seeing past that and only reducing him to his secondary gender, or trying to at least. They were living in a fantasy of pretty, docile omegas and Ghost never missed an occasion to bring them back to fucking reality.
It’s not that omegas weren’t in the military at all, the job was slowly opening for them too as people were letting go of older beliefs but Ghost was still an exception among his own peers.
He was huge, bigger than anyone on base, never broke eye contact with alphas and didn’t hesitate to be violent or rough if necessary, the complete opposite of what an omega was supposed to be like.
More than that he was, like most soldiers on base, under strong suppressants to keep his pheromones down so Soap didn’t even know he was an omega for a while.
He assumed, like many, that Ghost was an alpha and never asked about it, not quite caring about his secondary gender anyway.
It was only when another soldier made a demeaning joke about it in front of Ghost that Soap questioned it and actually realised the truth. A mindblowing moment, truly.
The shock was shattering, in a good way, like an unexpected surprise.
He was so impressed and excited about the news.
At the time, Ghost suddenly became colder toward him, shutting himself down when he saw that Soap knew and seemed very happy about the news. The lieutenant was preparing for yet another of his comrade changing behaviour as soon as they learned about him being an omega, suddenly courting him or asking stupid questions but to his surprise, Johnny didn’t do any of that.
The alpha laughed about it heartily and just kept joking with him as if nothing had changed and didn’t once show signs of alpha dominating behaviour toward him.
Since then, they had gotten quite close and Ghost was accepting Soap in his personal space more than others.
Although Soap loved their current relationship, he couldn’t stop himself from thinking about more.
He had been desiring him for a long, long time, even before learning he was an omega and he was sure Ghost also liked him a bit too.
Whatever it would take, he’d find a way to his heart or he’d die trying.
Now, he just had to wait two, long, boring weeks without him.
Barely any rays of sun could filter through the closed curtain, giving the bedroom a dark, muted look.
The air was hot and heavy, like you could choke on it from how much pheromones were loaded in it and yet, the door was locked and the window closed.
Ghost was in his bed in his underwear, laying on his side and slightly curled on himself. He wasn’t wearing his mask in the safety of his own apartment and yet every breath he was taking felt suffocating.
His body was burning hot, sweat rolling down his skin to pool in the crevices of his muscles, soaking his bed uncomfortably but there was nothing he could do about it. His skin was twitching lightly, his legs shaking from time to time for some friction.
The boxers he was wearing were doing nothing to contain the slick coming out of him, saturating the fabric before sliding down his thighs to the mattress under him.
His hips refused to stay still, grinding into nothing which only pushed the discomfort to another peak and the man grunted low, clenching his legs together harder, frowning.
He could feel the wetness, the blood traveling fast under his skin, making his untouched cunt beg and pulse with need.
Ghost panted a bit harder into his pillow, his vision blurring as another heatwave surged through him.
He clenched his fists, curling more on himself despite the pain and grabbed his pillow closer to himself to bury his face hard into it, breathing hard through his open mouth.
“You’re not gonna do it,”
“Yes, I will. “ Soap argued with a cocky smirk, “You just wait and watch. This plan will be executed flawlessly and you’ll regret ever doubting me”
Gaz rolled his eyes, crossing his arms. The look of disbelief was strong on his face as he listened to Soap.
His friend was, once again, talking about his beloved lieutenant but this time, he was sharing his decision to actually make a move on Ghost.
Gaz had known of Soap’s crush on Ghost for quite a while now.
At first, he thought it’d pass. Soap was always running from one place to another, hot blooded, not the kind to wait or settle on someone.
Gaz told himself it was a passing obsession and that Soap would lose interest, like many others but to his surprise and damnation, that didn’t happen and now he had to listen to Soap giggle and gossip about his relationship with the omega every fucking day.
Next to him, Soap looked super confident with his plan. Nervous but confident.
Gaz truly wanted him to succeed. He thought that Ghost and him could really fit together romantically but he still had doubts about the way to go and about the reciprocity of the feelings.
He didn’t want Soap to be heartbroken too.
He squinted his eyes,
“Why do you think you have to do it on the 14th, though ? Please don’t…”
Soap waved his hand in the air to dismiss him,
“14th of February is a perfect, stupid excuse to do something for him. If it doesn’t work out, it can still be a funny friendly gift and a joke”
“Sure…” Gaz sighed.
Ghost would be back from his leave in just a few days and everyone absolutely knew about it as Soap looked happier with each day passing.
It brought a good spirit to the, otherwise, underwhelming troop training and everyone kept on waiting for the day the lieutenant would come back.
When he did, Ghost simply got back into his uniform and resumed his work on the base as if he hadn’t left, no ceremony or anything. Some soldiers welcomed him back and Soap was quick to find him to check on him.
He was surprised to see that the man didn’t seem rested at all. It was as if Ghost was in an even shittier mood than the one he was in when he left two weeks ago.
Yet, when Soap greeted him and offered him some coffee with an angelic look on his face, the man’s look still softened, smiling under his mask.
After just a day, Ghost was back to his normal energy level, carrying tasks around, helping Price with the recruits and going back to training himself.
Soap knew his preferred schedule around the gym ; later in the evening when no one was around and so he also organised himself to train with him at the same hours.
He showed up in his favourite t-shirt, dropping his bag in a corner before joining Ghost who was actively fighting a punching bag.
The alpha innocently peeked at the other man, detailing his frame.
Ghost was never showing much skin and wore a tight shirt with long sleeves which was doing absolutely nothing to hide the volumes of his body, the dark fabric hugging his shoulders and sides tightly, doing all the way around his neck where his balaclava was dropping.
‘Damn…’ Soap thought to himself, blushing slightly before he started the conversation, putting his attention on something else.
“Want a better punching bag ?” He said with a smirk, presenting himself.
Ghost stopped punching to look at him, barely catching his breath under the mask.
“Offered so nicely…”
Soon after, they were fighting and wrestling on the matted area, taking turns throwing each other on the ground.
Soap asked again about a disarming technique he saw Ghost use once and the bigger man detailed the steps, moving him around slowly to show him before throwing him down and pinning him against the floor.
They were sweating, grabbing at each other and Soap couldn’t stop a competitive growl from escaping his throat as he felt strong, rough fingers wrap at the back of his neck.
This made Ghost smirk and they switched positions so that Soap could try to do the same.
The alpha focused, knowing he didn’t want to fail and also that he had to give it all if he wanted to move someone the size of Ghost.
He slowly redid the steps to practice, twisting on himself just to feel the movement and before long, he was deflecting Ghost’s attack, locking his arm away before spinning and throwing the man on the ground.
His weight was different from Ghost, which was forcing him to emphasise more on the width of the movement to launch him with more energy. It required more effort but eventually resulted in a stronger, heavier throw.
The bigger man receptionned himself with a loud bang on the floor and soon got pinned face down as well, a hand on his neck.
“How was that ?” Soap asked, looking down with a smirk.
“Decent, I’d say…” Ghost smiled under the mask, ignoring the shiver on his skin, “Next time I’ll teach you that…”
“Teach me whaAAAH- !?” Soap started before being swiped down from nowhere, essentially being flipped backward without even getting to understand how.
The next second, Ghost was over him, his hand close to his throat mimicking the hold on a knife.
“You’re dead” He stated and Soap let his head drop on the mattress with a smile, sweat rolling down his forehead.
“Fuckin’ hell, you got me…” he said, raising his hands to give up, “One day I’ll get you though”
“Will be waiting for that” Ghost replied, standing back up and offering a hand to pull him up.
They had been training hard for a solid two hours now and were both hot and sweaty, begging for a good shower.
Soap left first, Ghost telling him he had to put back the material he used before and took a refreshing shower.
When he stepped out, only wearing his sweat pants and drying his hair in a towel, Ghost was in front of his locker, getting his stuff in his bag to shower too.
“What are we doing tomorrow again ?” The sergeant asked, walking around the central bench to his own bag.
“Inventory and training some rookies in the afternoon,” Ghost mumbled.
“You mean giving them trauma for life,” Soap corrected with a smile, getting into clean pants and deciding to stay shirtless, hoping Ghost would take a peek, “Join the army, they said. There won’t be any scary man wearing a skull mask to scare you, they said”
“They wouldn’t get ‘traumatised’ if they didn’t break every single one of my rules on purpose…” Ghost replied.
Soap smirked, shoving his towel and sweaty clothes into his bag and grabbing his water bottle in the other, preparing to leave for good.
“Well, I’ll be around if you need help,” Ghost turned to him, letting Soap fist bump his shoulder with a wink, “See you tomorrow, Lt. Sweet dreams and everythin’. Thank you again for the training session”
The bigger man didn’t move but Soap could see him smile under his mask, the subtle movement of his lips under the fabric and the slight crease at the corner of his beautiful, dark eyes betraying him every single time.
“You’re welcome, Johnny. That was a good session. Have a good sleep too…”
And just like that, Soap left after one last smile, pushing the door of the locker room open to disappear behind it, swinging his water bottle at the tip of his fingers.
Ghost only looked away when the door closed in front of him, cutting the brief sight he had over the man’s muscular back.
He then exhaled, now alone in the room.
He felt relaxed and satisfied by the rough fighting session. During his leave, Soap’s absence had affected him more than he cared to admit and he was glad to hear him and to fight with him again.
Wrestling especially was something he loved. It gave him a good excuse to manhandle the smaller man, to get close to him and to breathe his smell in without even trying to.
He thought that Soap’s smile and body would probably be the death of him and he didn’t mind.
He broke his train of thought to turn back to his locker, grabbing the hem of his wet shirt, lifting it over his head to go shower as well.
Trotting down the almost empty hallways, Soap was smiling like a kid.
That was the best evening he had spent in a while, he was so happy he got to learn from Ghost again and they fought so close for two whole hours. What a dream.
He knew he’d soon be back to his dorm but something abnormal made his mind click only after a few seconds down the hallway. He looked down at his hand and scoffed lightly at himself.
While he was so focused on wishing goodnight to Ghost, he had grabbed the wrong bottle with him, mistaking his with Ghost’s on the bench.
He turned around swiftly to return it immediately, thinking it would gain him a few more seconds of presence around Ghost for the day.
He pushed the door to the lockers again, entering with a smile on his face,
“It’s me again, I just knew you’d miss me already,” He joked, raising the water bottle with a smirk as he looked up at the lieutenant, “I was just bringing back your…”
He stopped moving, his smile freezing on his face as he saw what was in front of him.
Ghost had his back to him, still facing his locker and he was shirtless now, his balaclava off as well, leaving his entire back visible for Soap to see.
He was already impressive with clothes on but Soap’s train of thought hadn’t been cut off by the sight of the muscles for once as he immediately noticed something else.
The man just stood there, eyes planted further up behind Ghost neck where the strong muscles connected with his shoulders.
There, was his scent gland and over it, in a very visible, unmistakable pattern, was a bite mark. Forming a circle on Ghost’s light skin, the shape of teeth was mortifyingly clear.
“...Your…Bottle…….” Soap finished more quietly, frozen in place.
Eh ?
Before his mind could start computing again, Ghost moved slightly, which seemed to break him out of his trance and Soap finally looked away from the mark to find Ghost’s eyes.
The man had barely turned around, looking at him over his shoulder with wide, shocked, unblinking eyes. Eyes that knew.
Soap suddenly felt a sudden tinge of fear take over him and his smile faltered quickly. He couldn’t look away, frozen like a deer in headlights, feeling his very soul being pierced by the sheer anger that was now directed toward him.
It was as if a bucket of ice had been dunked over him and he felt himself suddenly sweat again.
“I-I…” He stuttered, not understanding what was going on but still getting that something was very, very wrong.
“Out…”
“What ?” Soap blinked, confused.
“I said OUT !!!” Ghost barked at him, turning toward him to yell and Soap jumped, clenching his teeth at the sound.
All of Ghost’s muscles seemed flexed, as if he was refraining from jumping on him.
His face was red and his teeth bared as he yelled again, “GET OUT !!! GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE !!! NOW !!!”
That made Soap snap back to reality, eyes wide in shock and the next second, he was out of the room just as fast as he had entered, his body acting on instinct.
The door slammed close another time, leaving Ghost panting alone in the room, his blood boiling hot in his veins.
He stood still, refusing to believe this had just happened. He looked down, fists clenched for a bit before he screamed again, turning to punch the nearest locker, bending the metal against his knuckles.
“FUCK ! FUCKIN HELL !” He shouted alone, grabbing his face in his hands.
He stopped to catch his breath, grunting low and cursed under his breath again.
His hands slid behind his neck to clasp onto his skin, covering the mark he knew he had, his fingers clenching against it painfully.
Soap returned to his dorm stunned, his brain unable to process anything that was going around him.
He didn't talk to anyone and went straight to bed, still feeling shaken.
Only then, the realisation started to settle in his mind and his eyes widened again in the dark.
Ghost had a bite mark. A mating bite mark on his scent gland.
Soap didn't look at it for that long but the picture was imprinted under his eyelids now. The aggressive shape of teeth creating a round, possessive dip on the light skin…
It wasn’t recent either, the skin had already scared properly like the countless wounds Ghost had received in his life.
This meant that the omega was mated to someone…. Someone else.
Soap had never felt his heart clench in his chest so hard. He refused to believe it.
How could he not know about that !? When did that happen ?! Who could that be !? Ghost didn't smell like anyone else and was never spending time with any potential partner.
Soap already felt like he was going crazy trying to understand the situation and the implications around it.
He just wondered how long this had been there. He had known Ghost for years now and never, ever heard the omega speak about it. There was never any hint that he was mated.
Soap tried to remember if he had seen Ghost without that mark but couldn't as he had never seen his neck bare before.
Maybe it was always there, maybe Ghost had been mated all this time while he was longing for him and trying to get his favours.
Soap had never felt this bad and stupid in a long while.
Something that was shocking him just as much was Ghost’s reaction.
When he entered the room, he swore he saw the man flinch.
Not just a small notice of his arrival, an actual, violent flinch as if he had been the one doing something bad.
And then the scream…
Soap had always watched Ghost kill people, feeling so lucky and glad that he was on his side. Earlier, he felt like had experienced a glimpse of what his victims actually felt a few seconds before being killed and he never thought he'd ever be in that situation.
For a few seconds, Ghost’s anger had been directed toward him and that was the worst thing that could have possibly happened to him.
He wanted to disappear forever, now dreading the next morning.