A/N: Thanks to everyone for the reviews! I just can't say how happy I am to receive all of your feedback ;A;
Not much happening in this one, but I still think it's fun to write and read. I went through the draft again to check for errors, so if there's any I've overlooked, please excuse them xD Enjoy~
Something bright and warm is glaring into your closed eyes, forcibly bringing you out of a comfortable sleep. Even before you lift your eyelids open, you can tell it's just sunlight conveniently focusing on your face, and a dull, throbbing pain pounds the back of your skull. Despite having just awakened, there's no energy in your body to move your aching limbs.
Ignoring the immense headache, you suppress a grunt and open your eyes, not moving any other muscle. You're lying on your side, back facing the wall, on the lower mattress of a bunker. You're face is just inches from the edge, and if you had rolled over, you would have fallen painfully to the floor. Looking around, you find another bunker opposite you. The lower mattress, too, is occupied.
Roach is sleeping soundly across from you, his arm dangling off the bed, his face half-buried in the pillow and back facing upwards. Brown-tinted blond hair in disarray, expression serene, covers drawn up to the waist…and shirtless. That, and there's an arm draped around his neck, as though there's somebody else cuddling him on the inner part of the bunker, between the wall and Roach, but isn't visible from your angle.
'Is that Soap's arm?' you ask yourself, eyes widening. Wait, if that really is Soap's arm, and that they really had you-know-what last night, what the hell are you doing in the same room? If you remember correctly, you were making out with Ghost, who was drunk into oblivion.
There's a little mark on Roach's shoulder, which suspiciously looks like a hickey. Your heart rate increases as you look around the room once more. This looks like one of the soldiers' many bunker rooms.
Biting your bottom lip, you decide it's best to get up and leave before Roach and Soap wake up. Inhaling deeply, and channelling what little energy you have into your hands, you attempt to sit up—that is, until, you realize there's an arm draped lazily over your hip.
A blazing heat rushes up to your cheeks. Well, shit. There's somebody on the inner part of the bed, between you and the wall, and since you're facing away you didn't realize there's somebody with you on the same mattress in the first place. Braving to look down, the arm is muscular and strong, a bit tanned…
Biting the insides of your cheeks, you're not sure whether to be relieved, incredulous or disappointed that you're still in the silver dress from the night before, serving as proof that nothing suspicious happened between you and the members.
Shrugging that fact off, you mind races as to who it is cuddling you. It's not like you pay much attention to the soldiers' arms, anyway. Maybe when they're training, but not always. As a fangirl, you mostly stare at their handsome faces and drool when they're not looking.
Maybe it's Ghost. The option is plausible, considering there was a lip-locking session between you two last night.
'I'm still gonna have to wake up either way,' you think to yourself. You still have to slip out or undesirable events may happen.
Slowly and patiently, you move your feet to the floor and rise from the comfortable lying position. As you do, the arm falls from your hip and grazes over your thigh, before finally falling behind you as you successfully sit up. Breathing an inaudible sigh of relief, you glance at the door. Naturally, it's closed and locked.
Now that you're sitting up, you can see who it is snuggling Roach. To your surprise, it isn't Soap. Pale skin, dark hair, tall and slender frame, long legs hidden underneath the covers—that's Ghost sleeping next to the sergeant.
Then…who is sleeping beside you?
Gradually and hesitantly, you glance over your shoulder, unsure who to expect. You can feel the breath leaving your lungs when you find Soap sleeping contentedly, his Mohawk a mess on his head, and the captain himself almost naked if it weren't for the dark boxers, which is the only thing he's wearing. Strewn about his collarbone and neck are a few hickeys.
Instead of rushing to the door as you originally planned, you lean forward and wipe your face several times. How and when did you end up here? How did you and Roach switch 'partners'? More importantly, why is Soap in his boxers? If Roach is naked (you can't tell since the covers are blocking the rest of his body) then why is Ghost next to him when it seems that he and Soap were in the process of jumping each other's bones?
Memories from last night are too vague for you to pull the pieces together. In the end, you give up thinking, and conclude that investigating the rest of the base should provide answers. You get to your feet. The dizziness affects your walking, and you use the furniture and walls as support as you stagger to the door.
Unlocking it, you stumble out into the hallway and lean against the wall, fumbling around for the knobs leading to other members' bedrooms. Throwing each door open, you discover them all to be empty, with an exception of one. In the furthest room, Rocket is sprawled out on the floor in an awkward position, as though he had wrestled with somebody and lost. Remembering that he probably got his ass kicked by the lieutenant, you leave the unconscious soldier on the floor and make your way to the rec-room.
Ah yes, the recreation room. As you make a turn to where the open arch leading to the said room is situated, you can hear the faint murmur of music and see the dim glow of multi-coloured lights. Somebody is unconscious by the entrance, his legs clumsily sticking outside the room. You squint once you arrive, the rainbow of colours adding to the terrible headache.
"Shake it off~" somebody croons, voice cracking and slurring, singing along to the song by Taylor Swift. Then, the same voice curses, "Damn, if I can shake this fucking hangover off…"
Unlike last night, the music is set at a comfortable and low volume. At the end of the room, you can see Meat with his face against the keyboard. He's holding on stubbornly to what looks like an empty glass.
Ozone, Scarecrow, Chemo, Worm and Royce are lying about in awkward and hilarious positions all about the room. Speaking of the room, it's a total mess. There's food whipped across the walls and clinging onto the ceiling.
As Meat groans and deals with his hangover, you wonder where Archer and Toad are. Neither of the snipers is in the rec-room, and you've already checked all of the members' quarters. There are a few possibilities: they're either training, which is unlikely, or they're bathing, which would be very strange of them to do. Or, they could be in the cafeteria.
Less than two minutes later, you arrive at the said area. Sunlight seeping in from the high windows illuminates the large room. True enough, Archer and Toad are there.
What they're doing, however, makes you wonder whether you're hallucinating.
The two snipers are making good use of one of the tables. Toad's on his back, legs wrapped around the hips of Archer, who is currently pinning him down against the table with his hands in his spotter's hair. Their lips are connected in what appears to be an aggressive make-out session. Both are still in clothes, but it seems like that's about to change, given their suggestive position and heaty, passionate kiss.
That, and how Archer's hands are trailing along the buttons of Toad's shirt.
You remain there, paralyzed for a moment. Getting laid on a table…if you caught Ghost and Roach, that may be understandable, but Archer and Toad? They must have forgotten they're getting intimate at a place where anybody can walk in at any time.
As much as you'd love to remain unnoticed, watch them have *cough cough* and maybe die of nosebleed, you snap, "Hey! Cut it out!"
The sudden exclamation startles both of them. Archer somehow falls off the side of the table and lands painfully on the tiled floor, whereas Toad freezes, his face flushing. He turns and looks at you, his eyes portraying a kind of innocent shock, though there's nothing innocent about his swollen lips, rustled hair and lone hickey barely hidden by the open collar of his shirt.
Archer curses and grabs on to the table and chairs to get up to his feet. He wobbles, probably hungover, and looks up at you. You've never seen him so embarrassed in his life. In fact, you never thought that the stoic, always strict-to-business Archer is capable of getting embarrassed. Or…aroused, for that matter.
"How long have you been standing there?" Toad asks, swallowing.
"Long enough to guess what that" you wave your arms around, "was leading to."
Both men steal glances at each other. However, since they both did it at the same time, they make eye contact and end up averting their gazes and blushing twice as hard. A giggle involuntarily escapes your lips at their awkwardness.
"Do you know what time it is?" Archer mumbles, still mortified.
You turn around to look at the clock above the entrance of the cafeteria. "It's half past eleven in the morning. The rest of the members are either unconscious or too hungover to move."
"Oh," Archer hums, slumping down into a seat, at the same table Toad is still lying on. As he does this, Toad sits up and groans before getting off the table and settling on the floor.
"What should I do?" you ask.
Archer waves a hand, resting his head against the cold surface. "Nothing."
You stay in the cafeteria and watch as the duo fall asleep. After smiling at how adorable it is to watch the two, you end up cooking your own breakfast and making you own coffee, idly mulling over what could have taken place last night and pondering over other matters. The base is strangely quiet, other than murmur of songs from the rec-room not so far away.
After spending an hour at the cafeteria, you take a rejuvenating and cleansing shower and throw on a new, cleaner outfit. It must have already been another hour and a half by the time you're finished gussying up.
It's already two o'clock. It's already Day 4. Wow…time flies by so fast when you're with the one-four-one.
You return to the room where Soap, Roach and Ghost are at. Without knocking, you push the door open and peek in, only to find Soap glaring irritably at Ghost, who has a wide grin on his face and a blushing, flustered Roach trapped in the lieutenant's embrace from behind. If you didn't know any better, you just walked in on one of Ghost's and Soap's possessive fights over the sergeant.
"Don't say a word," you raise a hand, expression neutral, as all three pairs of eyes fall on you with fear and surprise.
They remain silent, still looking a bit apprehensive and shocked, as you continue, "I don't want to comment on…this," you wave your arms around again. "It's two in the afternoon and you're the only people who appear to have already recovered from the hangover."
"Two in the afternoon?" Soap repeats, eyes widening in a look of disbelief.
"Rec-rooms a mess," you shrug. "It's going to take forever to clean up."
"Fuck," Roach curses, throwing his head back, inadvertently leaning deeper against Ghost. All three don't seem to care at that moment.
"Bloody fucking hell," Ghost groans, gently pushing Roach aside. "I'm still going to have to be the one who's going to get those wankers up on their feet to clean the place up."
As he scoots out of the covers to get to his feet, you're surprised he still has his boxers on. Which means he didn't do that with Roach? Maybe Roach still has his boxers on, too.
Urgh, whatever. It's too much to think about now.
Two hours later, you're in the cafeteria with Soap, sipping soundly on a warm cup of plain water as the groans and complaints from the members are faintly heard from the rec-room. Throughout those couple of hours, nobody disturbed you or asked for your help, which is natural considering you're a 'visitor'.
The captain ambled in five minutes ago, looking tired and irritated. After a few moments of silence between you two, he sighs, "Right now, Ozone and Worm are trying everything in their power to get some thing off the ceiling. Whatever it is, it's white, sticky and creamy…and smells like shite. I don't think I can spend another moment in that room without feeling nauseous."
You giggle, setting the glass down gently. "So, remember much from last night?"
"Not really," Soap murmurs, lacing his hands together. "Only up to the point I was laying on the floor and somebody spilled honey on my face."
After a small hum of acknowledgement, you take another sip of the plain water. Soap looks a bit nervous and restless. Noticing his condition, you arch a brow. "What's wrong with you?"
He coughs. "Er, you saw me with Ghost and Roach earlier…I know it's pretty compromising but—you must have some sort of idea that we're queer—"
You wait patiently for him to finish his stammers, expression neutral the whole time. Eventually, his sputters trail off, the look on his face indicating he didn't quite know how to put his question into words.
With a small sigh and smile, you wag your head. "I'm not disturbed, if that's what you're thinking," you assure him. "And I won't tell anybody. Though I personally think the other members wouldn't really care."
Soap looks relieved, and your reassuring smile breaks into a mischievous grin. "Besides, I think you and Roach are really cute together."
A very faint blush creeps up to the captain's cheeks. "Uh…"
"Or maybe Ghost and Roach? I don't know," you tease, purposely intending to agitate him. "I personally think Roach's cuter with Ghost. But, then again, it's hard to choose."
Soap narrows his eyes at you. "What are you trying to get at, Private?"
"Nothing," you shrug innocently.
At that moment, Ghost walks into the cafeteria, announcing his arrival with an incoherent curse and exasperated sigh. Soap, in response to the other's presence, rises from his seat and walks out of the room. Ghost replaces the captain's spot opposite you.
His sunglasses are missing, which would be normal considering it would only pain his eyes in a room with rainbow-coloured bulbs. As he sits down, he pulls his balaclava off and massages the bridge of his sharp-angled nose.
"It's not like General Shepherd will be visiting the base any time soon," you smile sympathetically. "Don't stress yourself—or them—out."
Ghost doesn't reply. He takes a few deep breaths as though to calm and pull himself together.
At that moment, you ask, "So, do you remember anything from last night?"
"Specifically?"
"Well…maybe, after you beat the shit out of Rocket and staggered back to the rec-room?" you bite the insides of your cheeks, wondering whether the lieutenant does remember kissing you.
Ghost takes a few moments to think. "Only fragments. I was dragging somebody with me when I saw the captain and Roach walk out of the recreation room. I remember seeing Roach leading the captain into his room, then I waited about ten minutes before storming in. Maybe I was with somebody when I kicked the door open, but I don't really remember. And then I pulled Roach away—by then he already had his shirt off—and I pushed him on the bed…"
His look of concentration slowly melts into that of smugness, and a dream-like smirk plays across his face at the memories of successfully snatching the sergeant away from Soap. A small blush tints your cheeks, mind constructing what could have happened, and then Ghost suddenly snaps out of his reverie, immediately realizing that he divulged too much information that he should.
"Well, anyway," he starts, averting eye contact, slightly embarrassed, "why do you ask?"
"Just trying to stir a conversation," you lie, staring blankly at the now half-empty cup. Oh, so he doesn't remember accidentally kissing you, mistakening you for Roach. In fact, none of the three men seem to remember you being with them during the 'affair' in the first place. Best keep it that way.
Silence settles between you for a few minutes as you struggle to think of a subject for conversation. "You know that Roach is also in a relationship with MacTavish, right?"
You didn't know what drove you to ask such a private and maybe sensitive question, but you just had to know. Ghost doesn't seem surprised by the answer, but he stiffens for a split second before replying.
"Aye, of course," he shrugs. "I don't know how to explain it. I do get jealous of MacTavish sometimes because Roach seems fonder of him than me. But I don't get enraged or anything of that sort."
"Huh…what about you and MacTavish?"
Ghost arches a brow. "What?"
"Is there anything going on between you and the captain?" you try again, barely suppressing the coy smile on your face. You lean forward and waggle your eyebrows. "Romantically, that is."
"What?" Ghost stares at you incredulously. "No!"
Doubtfully, you fold your arms and lean back against the chair. "Are you sure?"
Ghost rolls his intensely blue eyes. "Look, Private, I know you're a girl. Girls can take men like us two ways—either they're disgusted, or they go crazy because it's 'cute'. You seem to be the latter."
"True…" you murmur, urging him to continue.
"I don't have any romantic interest in the captain," Ghost says defiantly, the confidence in his thickly accented voice obvious. "The only person I love is Roach."
For a second there, you aren't sure whether you heard that correctly. Did Ghost—the stoic, clinically insane and sometimes sadistic Simon Riley—just admit that he genuinely has feelings for Roach? The information takes its time to process through your mind, and as the significance of Ghost's confession begins to sink in, the lieutenant himself begins to blush, as though realizing what he just said. The sight of his pale cheeks tinting pink just adds to your disbelief. First, he confesses, now he's blushing? That's very uncharacteristic of him.
Unsure how to respond, you cough. "So…erm, is Roach anybody's partner?"
"No," Ghost replies, before his own eyes widen as though he just realized what it means.
"Make it official, then," you arch a brow. "If you make Roach yours, MacTavish can't touch him anymore."
"It's not that easy," Ghost grimaces. "Roach can't belong to anybody, as much as I would like to make him mine. Besides, I don't think he'll agree to commitment…"
"I think he's torn between you and MacTavish," you offer your honest opinion, throwing in a wink. "He genuinely likes both of you. And what the hell are you talking about—commitment? You're just going to ask him to go steady, not marry him, geez!"
Ghost doesn't reply, instead he groans. "I wish somebody would come and sweep MacTavish off his feet so I could have Roach for myself."
"Ooh, getting soft, are you?"
The lieutenant glares daggers at you, and you would have cringed if it weren't for the light-hearted, fuzzy-feeling conversation.
"Where are Archer and Toad?" you ask.
"Cleaning, of course," Ghost replies, and you stand up to leave for the rec-room.
By the time you've reached there, all the lights have returned to glowing good, white beams. Some members are scrubbing the walls, others are on the floor. Ozone and Worm are fumbling with ladders trying to remove some sort of substance from the ceiling, and everybody looks as though they're silently praying they wouldn't get hit by that sticky white thing on the ceiling. A giggle makes its way pass your lips at the sight of soldiers cleaning like servants.
Spotting Archer trying to arrange the mass of wires at one corner of the room, you decide to go and help him. Kneeling next to him, you aid the sniper in distangling the dizzying amount of wires. Toad is at the other end of the room, scraping something off the wall.
"Thanks," Archer says appreciatively. You hum in reply, and he says awkwardly. "You don't seem disturbed with what you saw this morning."
A smirk crosses your face. "I was actually contemplating whether I should have just remained unnoticed so I can watch."
"T-Toad told me to do it," he sputters, almost too fast.
You suddenly remember how Soap once remarked Archer tends to come up with excuses blaming Toad. With a smug chuckle, you wag your head at the blatant lie. "That's funny, 'cause if I remember correctly, you were the one on top."
Archer bites his bottom lip, trapped as his lie backfired. You smirk and make no further comment concerning the matter, proceeding to untangle the cords and wires.
A/N: I know that last scene with Archer is too short and perhaps unnecessary, but I figure it'd be fun to have "you" say Archer was the one on top. ( eWe )
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