As the Jeep came to a stop, you were nudged awake by Soap.
"Long night, eh?", he joked as he opened his Jeep door, it squeaking as he did so, and stepped out.
You nodded, readjusting your mask, and propped up the night vision goggles drilled to your helmet. "Nothing more than the usual", you replied.
Soap chuckled, before stepping out of your way as you hopped down from the Jeep, feet first, and turned to grab one of your packs from the floor. You now had realized Ghost had already left the Jeep.
"Mactavish", Ghost rumbled.
You turned around, nearly jumping when you saw Ghost behind Soap. You never could get used to how quietly the burly man was able to move around.
Soap turned to face him, "Ghost, so, tell me what happened". Soap was smirking, and verbally, and probably, almost physically nudging Ghost.
Ghost simply stared at Soap, before sighing. "I did."
You walked away from the Jeep and shot Soap a quick raised eyebrow. He just winked back at you. "Come on. I need the details", he prodded, his accent heavy.
You restrained yourself from rolling your eyes and dismissed yourself. Dealing with Soap can wait, as you already knew he was going to go to you for answers later. Ghost wasn't the type to elaborate unless it was really needed.
The nap in the car was restful but left you groggy afterwards. Perhaps taking a shower and getting all of this grime and sweat off of you would wake you up. A nice warm shower to melt in did sound like basically heaven after crouching in the mud for hours.
You looked up as you walked to your quarters. The sky was still cloudy, a dark-blue-grey was hanging heavy, and the wind was chilled, making your nose and cheeks flush from the cold.
Even from the distance you were at, you could hear Soap and Ghost messing with each other, occasionally very audible swears.
After discarding your gear in the appropriate places and getting changed into something most definitely more comfortable to sleep in, a tight-fitting black shirt, with black cargo pants to match, and some simple shoes, you headed out to go swipe some much-needed food.
As you headed towards the cafeteria you saw Ghost walk out with Soap following behind, before stopping and turning around to face Soap.
"Fuck you, Mactavish", Ghost's voice is cold and gruff.
You didn't doubt that Soap had been bothering Ghost since getting out of the Jeep.
As you approached, you looked to where you had patched up Ghost earlier, wondering if his bandages needed to be changed.
Soap noticed you and perked up, still smirking as he was earlier.
"Splinter!", he drawled out, his rough accent coating his words.
Ghost turned around, his arms were crossed, and he was looking very unamused
Your eyes lingered on Ghost, his gear for the most part was gone, as his skull mask still adorned his face. His entire head was wrapped, and still for the most part the only skin you could see was painted black around his eyes. Though now, he was wearing a tight-fitting shirt, similar to yours, except his sleeves cut off just below the elbows. To your surprise, you noticed a tattoo sleeve on his left arm, trailing down and ending at his wrist. You hadn't really seen Ghost in these types of garments, typically because you would only really meet Task Force 141 during missions. That and Ghost was usually off on missions simply for him or a few other people.
Your attention turned back to Soap, who's grin was even wider.
"How 'bout you tell me what transpired, hm?", Soap wrapped an arm around your shoulder, leaning a bit of his body weight onto you.
This time, you rolled your eyes.
Ghost watched the entire thing transpire, and you could almost tell he had an eyebrow raised.
You pushed Soap off of you, giving him a bit of a smile.
"If Ghost isn't telling, neither am I,", you paused, glancing over to Ghost, "...besides nothing important happened anyway." You turned your gaze back to Soap.
He shook his head, and held his hands up in defeat, "Alright, alright."
Soap quieted, as you could hear faint talking over his earpiece.
"I'll take my leave then", he chuckled, flashing another, larger, and most definitely cockier, smirk at Ghost before turning around and heading out towards the Office building.
You watched Soap leave before turning to Ghost. Unsure what to say you simply spoke whatever came to mind first.
"How's your bandage?", you asked, quite awkwardly.
Ghost grunted, unfolding his arms from his chest and dropping them to his sides. After a few moments, he responded, "Could use a change..."
You nodded.
After all that jogging the two of you did right after you had tended to his wound, you weren't surprised. Luckily, he didn't seem to be in too much pain at the moment. His breathing wasn't labored, so he might've taken a pain pill.
You scratched your head out of nervous habit, "I could probably help. Again."
He nodded, before stepping out of the way to the cafeteria doors. He gestured to them as he began speaking, "I won't hold you from your dinner any longer. If you want, you can swing by my quarters when you're finished."
You gave another curt nodded, before jokingly saluting, "Will do."
As you walked past and into the heavy metal doors of the cafeteria you felt his gaze follow you.
As soon as you sat down to enjoy your meal, the last few moments that had just transpired had you reeling. You could barely keep it together last time you helped him, and now in his private quarters?
You rubbed your temples, feeling an oncoming headache.
After a few hard knocks on the door, Ghost opened it, not before you hearing several locks being undone. You couldn't really blame him; your door was basically the same. He's also an extremely top ranking and elusive 141 member, so the more locks the better.
He stepped aside, opening the door wider before gesturing for you to come in. You did so, immediately being hit with smell of his cologne, and just him in general.
It definitely felt more private, and that made you feel more awkward.
Well, regardless, you just help him, and then leave. Simple as that. Right?
You turned to Ghost; his unfeeling eyes boring into your body.
He once more gestured to a med kit, sitting on a nearby table.
As you walked towards it, Ghost walked to the other side of the room, and sat upon his bed, you could hear him fiddling with his shirt.
You turned around, giving the room a quick scan.
It was the basic private quarters, in fact you wouldn't even believe anyone lived here, other than the messy bed sheets. You couldn't find any personal touches around the room, aside from a few essential means. The bed itself was large, and was placed with a standard quilt, the bed frame wasn't ornate, but rather metal. Two nightstands were placed on either side, only one having a lamp placed upon it. The only thing you could tell about Ghost from this room was that he sleeps on the right side of his bed.
His bathroom door was laying lazily open, the light was off, but from the light the lamp upon the nightstand gave off you were able to make out a toothbrush and toothpaste sitting on a plain counter. His closet was closed, and another door to a makeshift kitchen was also slightly open. Though, the lights were also off in there, and from what you could tell so far, there probably wasn't anything interesting in there anyways.
You grabbed the med kit and quietly padded over to where Ghost was sitting on his bed, similarly to last time his shirt was lifted up.
This time, you could see a bit more of his figure. He was more tensed than last time, and now you could see a bit of a blond happy trail towards the middle of his stomach. You immediately shifted your eyes off of it.
"Splinter", his voice was deep, and caught you off guard. It felt almost like he was whispering in your ear.
Your breath caught and you struggled to respond. From being this close to him, you could very clearly smell his cologne and natural scent. "Ah", you paused, trying not to fumble any worse than you already were. "Yes?". You didn't raise your eyes to meet his, you already knew you wouldn't be able to maintain eye contact.
You felt your cheeks slightly heat.
"Let's keep this between us", his accent was heavier, and a chill went down your spine. You were much too affected by this man, since when had you become so conscious to him?
You cleared your throat, "This?", you asked. You more wanted to clarify that he meant what you think he meant. Your mind was foggy, but this time not from just waking up from a nap.
"The wound", you watched as his eye contact broke and looked down at the bandaged area.
You nodded quickly. "Of course."
True to what he had said earlier, he did need to change his bandage. It was practically pooling with blood that the bandage had soaked up like a sponge.
Getting to work, you opened up the med kit, finding everything you needed.
You quickly leaned in and unwrapped the ruby stained bandage, trying not to stay in this too-close-for-comfort position. Once finished, you discarded the bloodied bandages within a bin nearby his nightstand.
You took out a wipe and cleaned your hands, before grabbing a different one and wiping off any crusted blood around the wound, and over the stitches.
Luckily you wouldn't have to be restitching him, as despite all of that movement, none of them had come undone.
As you worked you piped up, "Why are you hiding this wound from the others?", you asked while starting to dab some ointment onto your finger so you could rub it onto the wound.
Ghost grunted but didn't say anything audible. You shrugged it off, he probably had his reasons.
As you worked in the ointment onto his skin, you saw and heard his breathing. His chest was slowly rising and falling, and he was exhaling in quiet breaths.
Once finished with the ointment a shiny sheen was left behind, and you unrolled the roll of bandages before promptly wrapping them around his waist and then securing it with a pin.
You gathered up any trash, and then looked up to Ghost. He had silently watched you the entire time, much like a few hours prior.
Quickly putting the trash in the bin, you were about to close the lid before noticing bits of dried blood on Ghost's mask.
You grabbed another wipe and reached up, "You have a bit of..blood on your mask." You wiped it away, before accidentally making eye contact with Ghost. His eyes were slightly widened, as if startled by the sudden action.
You threw the wipe in the bin and gathered the med kit before setting it down on the small table you had gotten it from beforehand.
A warm pit in your stomach was forming, but you chose to ignore it. He was your colleague. Your superior even!
Nervously, you wiped your palms onto your cargo pants. You hadn't even realized just how clammy your hands had gotten.
"I'll see you later", you quickly excused yourself.
Ghost simply just sat unmoving as he watched you slip out of his private quarters through his door.
Barely even 24 hours later, you, and a majority of the squad of Task Force 141 was crammed into several Jeeps. All of you were geared up and briefed on your jobs.
You had been assigned to duo with Ghost, and as such, were seated right next to him. It didn't help that the rather cold Jeep you were inside was driving along a dirt road with plenty of pothole. More than several times, you were basically thrown into Ghost because of it.
You were thankful that most of your face wasn't seen, as your cheeks were definitely flushed.
You were snapped out of your daze when the Jeep's back door flew open and all of you huddled outside.
"Splinter, let's get into position", Ghost rumbled, almost practically dragging you with him as the two of you jogged around buildings, often ducking for cover.
Your footsteps were quiet, but not compared to Ghost. Much like his namesake, he basically glided across the ground, not making a single noise.
Finally, the two of you set up on a rooftop in the active warzone.
The building you were on was dilapidated, as nature was already starting to reclaim the property of it, and other buildings surrounding it. It was practically a miracle the two of you had been able to make it up those stairs without falling through.
You gazed around from your eagle-eyed viewpoint through your night vision goggles, various hues of greens and things made out of the shapes around you.
Puddles from the previous day's rain still stood in small lakes across the ground. Many of which your boots had already fallen victim to while you made your way to the building. The sky was still cloudy, threatening another rain fall like it had the previous day.
You silently hoped you wouldn't be caught in the rain again.
This time, though, you were able to hear orders through your earpiece, as you had gotten issues a new one shortly before climbing into the Jeep.
"Focus, Splinter", Ghost hushedly growled. "Targets incoming."