Ghost is a walking dichotomy, Soap has discovered. He's watched him strip the layers of a man's skin away to get information from him, seen him snap someone's neck in as little time as it takes to take a breath. But he's also so capable of heartbreaking kindness. His genuine concern for the fish, the way he saves the best part of his plate for Soap; offering it to him with reverence. The way he's cleaning Johnny's wound so tenderly. It's in these moments of gentleness where Johnny almost forgets what they do, what they've seen, who they are.
So when Ghost's voice snaps into that serious tone it's almost like a slap in his dizzy, goofily smiling, face.
"Wha?"
"Where is it? I'll get rid of it for you." Under the sharp tone is still that lethal gentleness, and even under that is a shaking fear.
"Oh, oh Ghost." He shifts, uncomfortable in his skin and wanting to be anywhere but here. "Ye... Ye cannae get rid of it."
His Lieutenant draws back a little, a mix of apprehension and offense in his eyes.
"It hurt you, nothing else matters."
Soap can feel his heart splitting as his throat starts to burn. Ghost stares up at him with fiery eyes, hands still holding his wrist so so softly.
"Where is the snake Soap? I promise you it'll never hurt you again. Whoever brought it in is going to have hell to pay too." He earnestly promises and Soap feels a single hot tear slip out of his eye.
"Ghost..." He chokes out. "Simon... It's mine."
The small room goes silent. Nothing even dares to move but for the violent flinch the sentence rips out of Ghost.
He doesn't dare say anything, doesn't dare to move or even breathe. He looks down at Ghost and Ghost meets his stare with turmoil roiling in his gaze.
Soap doesn't know what he expected, screaming or sobbing or angry silence but the frantic confusion he can see in the other man is as far as can be from what he'd thought he'd get.
They sit there like that for a few long moments, each absorbed in his own thoughts, before Ghost slowly rises from his kneel. If Johnny were in better spirits he would tease him for the quiet cracks his knees make. And with that violent tenderness he slowly curls an arm around Johnny and leans him down into the bed, pressing behind him and holding him close just like they'd done on any number of frigid nights out in the blind. And they just sit there holding each other in silence as they slowly drift into a dreamless sleep.
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wrote some xiao today bcs my boy is coming home whether he likes it or not
xiao senses you before he sees you, not bothering to look over his shoulder as he sighs, "what are you doing here?"
you lower yourself to sit next to him, legs dangling off the roof of the inn. "i was looking for you."
it's a nice night. quiet, tranquil. he usually comes up here to dampen the constant noise in his mind, but with you near, his thoughts always seem to be astir.
“I just want to know why you’ve been avoiding me lately,” you say softly.
he wants to roll his eyes, because, oh, boo fucking hoo he hasn’t been hanging around you much lately. he had things to do, people to look after. you should know that by now, that liyue and his duties as an adeptus always come first.
oh, and boo fucking hoo, it was your own fault you hadn’t noticed him lingering outside the restaurants you met ningguang in, or stalking in shaded corners, keeping an eye on you as you trained with keqing.
and maybe he should tell you, he thinks, that he’s holding you at an arm’s length because he’d started feeling things. that he’s doing it because he’d pretty much broken his own golden rule and developed something dangerously close to feelings for you.
he should tell you that the strings were already attached and that he thought it was funny— that the person who’d spent his life avoiding the complications of interpersonal relationships was the one getting tangled up in them now.
he opens his mouth to tell you this, that it is your fault, but his mouth goes dry when he tries.
and he should tell you, he thinks, as his back slouches and his leg uncrosses at the knee, that he’s avoiding you because sometimes he’s suddenly feeling too much. that it’s been snowballing, ever since you'd fought by his side to protect liyue harbour.
and he should tell you that it’s equal parts confusing and frustrating trying to figure out what he wants to do about it all.
but he tries. because when he casts you a sideways glance, he sees the worry on your face illuminated in the pale light of the moon and feels a little guilty.
“you don’t— you just wouldn’t get it,” he decides on saying instead. because he’s so afraid, so scared he’ll say the wrong thing, that he’ll mess this up or somehow make things worse.
you don't say anything for a moment, and the tension in his gut is building and building and building and he doesn’t know what to do—
“are you…okay?”
your careful voice snaps him out of it, and he sighs, palms sticky with sweat against the leather of his gloves.
he scowls slightly, putting up his barriers and guarding what? his back? his heart?
who the fuck knew anymore?
you just watch him with that awfully unnerving stare of yours. “something’s bothering you,” you frown.
that just might be the understatement of the millennium. he almost laughs at that.
“i haven’t the slightest idea what you’re saying. do enlighten me.”
your frown— no, your pout, only deepens at his feigned ignorance. “i’m serious.”
“always are, aren’t you?” he mutters, not looking at you. focusing on anything but you. the rustle of leaves in the breeze. the twinkling lights of liyue harbour in the distance.
“you’re deflecting.”
“no, i’m stalling.”
“why?”
“because you’re you,” he shrugs, as if it’s answer enough.
“because i’m me?”
he cuts you a charged glare. maybe it’s ‘cause he’s tired, or maybe it’s because, for someone so smart, you're still so unbelievably clueless and he feels the inherent need to set you straight.
(maybe it’s because, for the first time in his life, his walls are starting to crumble and he wants to be honest.)
“because even i don’t get you,” he snaps, taking a proverbial sledgehammer to the walls he’s put up for so long. “i don’t get why you insisted on helping me with that domain, even though you hardly knew me. i don’t get why you just give and give, and that it’s never transactional. i don’t get why you care so much. why you care about your job and about—”
—me.
you don't say anything. he finally glances up at your face, attempting to decipher a reaction.
there’s nothing there, except shock, maybe. no frown, no smirk, nothing to suggest how you really felt about his stupid rambling. he’s laid his cards out on the table. what happens now is up to you.
he hates it.
so he opens his mouth again, like the idiot that he is. his voice doesn’t sound like it’s supposed to, far too coloured with vulnerability than he likes. “most of all…i don’t get why i care.”
xiao's not looking at you anymore, choosing instead to stare at a crooked nail protruding from the roof as his face burns in shame.
it feels like hours until he hears your voice. “so, you’ve been avoiding me because you…care?”
he nods, scoffing, but not clarifying things any further. “something like that.”
archons, when the hell had he gotten so soft? he was a yaksha, a demon.
“xiao” you whisper when he turns away. “xiao, look at me.”
“fine,” he grumbles, trying to ignore the gentle tug on his sleeve as he turns towards your siren’s call. “i said fine—”
his grousing is immediately interrupted by the feel of cool hands grasping the sides of his face. his hand flies up to one of your wrists; instinct tells him to flinch back, to yank you away—
— but for some stupid, unknown reason, he doesn’t.
you sit like that for a minute, your hands cupping his cheeks and his own gripping your wrist. when was the last time he’d let anyone touch him so…intimately?
“you’re allowed to, you know?” you breath softly, in a quiet undertone. “allowed to care.”
his eyes carefully drag over your face for even an ounce of dishonesty, heart fluttering between his ribs when he doesn’t find it.
it’s slow, the way you close the space between them. slow to give him a chance to come back to his senses and back away from the ledge he’s teetering on.
xiao doesn’t move, even as your hand fists the front of his shirt to pull him closer, even when your nose nudges his. he doesn’t move until your warm lips meet his, and, holy shit, he’s kissing you.
(so much for backing away from the ledge. no, he’d run at it full speed and taken a swan dive.)
xiao clumsily reciprocates it as he learns the shape of your mouth, focusing on the feel of your lips and the wet glide of your tongue over his. it’s not like his previous kisses, which had been heated, rushed, and sloppy, fueled by lust and ambition. your movements are sweet and gentle, as if kissing him any harder might scare him away. it’s the kind of kiss that makes him feel as if everything is as it should be. just for a minute.
it’s nice.
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