"Ocelot is paying hard to gain back Volgin`s trust."

"how?" Snake tried not to sound too interested as he sat down too, but a good arm`s length away.

"lets see, yesterday was a meeting and Volgin offered him to be his... uh… to entertain him"

Snake`s eyebrows rose, he knew about the colonel`s intentions, now with the major gone and all, he needed some replacement. "what about Ocelot? Did he say yes?"

"of course. Did he have any other options? I bet Volgin`s doing it all to keep a close eye on him."

Snake felt heat build up inside him, he kept his mouth shut to avoid saying anything that might give anything away about his aggravation.

Eva talked to herself more than to him, "he looked so out of place this morning, painful to look at. Honestly, he`s too young to be-"

"He slept with him last night?" Snake asked through clenched teeth, his hands tightly fisted at his sides.

Eva noticed his discomfort and said, "yeah but that`s good for us. I mean Volgin`s found a distraction, hasn`t he? Now Sokolov might be able to hold the Shagohod for a little longer."

Snake looked away, cursing under his breath. Hatred more than anything else he had felt in his life overwhelmed him for the oversized colonel as he imagined the young soldier under him. This was all because of him, if Ocelot hadn`t slipped out for him, he might still have the highest rank in Volgin`s trust, not to mention that he wouldn`t have been forced to hand himself over to the colonel.

"I`ve brought you this by the way," She searched her pockets, took out a paper bag and handed it to him, "I thought you might have gotten sick of eating this jungle stuff everyday." Snake set it aside without as much as a glance at it. He was not somewhat sure that all the frustration he felt due to the matter was induced because he was the reason, there was something else too but he just couldn`t put his finger on it.

"thanks." He sighed, looking down at the ground.

"you`re welcome." She looked at him thoughtfully and said, "What do you think is Ocelot up to anyway?"

Snake didn`t want to talk about the man, "I don`t know."

Eva shrugged and let it go, although it looked as though she might have enjoyed talking about the matter. She then got up to leave, "just let me know if you need anything." And she left with a small wave of her hand.

Snake couldn`t sleep properly that night, he couldn`t sleep at all, and it had nothing to do with the fact that he was lying on the thick grass. He looked up at the starry sky and sighed, his hands interlocked below his head. He didn`t know why he was feeling this way, but every time he thought about Ocelot, Volgin`s face popped in his head. What if Volgin was doing all this to punish him? Snake huffed and turned to his side, his hand grabbing a fistful of the plants in sight in frustration. He tried to shake away the disturbing images and tried to focus on something else. He tried to picture Eva`s kiss, wondering if that might make him feel better because it did work in movies, but it did just the opposite. He was so ungrateful that a beautiful woman had kissed him and he was feeling disgusted at it, what about the other? He was forced to handover his whole body to the colossal colonel, and his even bigger vanity along with it. What might he be feeling at the moment? Thankfully, there was no one within a mile`s radius of the solid soldier to hear his growls of pain and anger as he punched the ground beside him several times.

The next few days passed as uneventfully as ever, Snake was resolute to reach the military base as quickly as possible and end this menace. There was no sign of Ocelot. He wondered if this was for the better, if not meeting him meant that he would gain Volgin`s trust back. Internally, Snake craved to see the young soldier or even hear his voice for that matter. He heard rustling behind him and flipped around, pointing his tranquillizer ahead of him. He felt like he might melt to the ground of the relief, there was no one in sight but Snake didn`t need to see him to feel his presence, he pocketed the gun and ran a hand through his hair, an involuntary smile tugging at his lips.

"I know you`re there."

"damn." Ocelot cursed and stepped out from behind the tree. Snake had to hold in a gasp, it had only been a couple of days and the soldier looked paler and gaunter. There were dark circles around his eyes, and a slight shuffle in his gate as he walked towards him. The smile vanished as quickly as it had come, replaced by a concerned frown, he noticed Ocelot`s once well kept hair all ruffled up like he had just rolled out of bed. The thought induced more of the sort and Snake averted his gaze from the one approaching him, trying to keep the hunger to slice the throat of Volgin from overwhelming him.

"long time." Ocelot said and blinked lazily as he leaned against a tree near Snake. Snake noticed just how tired he looked.

"why did you come here?" Snake looked around, making sure they couldn`t be seen by anyone.

"don`t sound like you weren't relieved to see me." Ocelot smirked.

Snake knew Ocelot thought that he didn`t know about his commitments with Volgin and he wasn`t going to bring it up, it was a matter of an ocelot`s pride. So, he went on for the obvious, "What happened to you? It seems like you haven`t been able to get a good night`s sleep."

Ocelot`s eyes darkened as he pulled out his revolver and started spinning it in his hands vigorously, "nothing. I`m fine." His tone was cold.

Snake cursed himself; it seemed as if it hurt him to remember the experiences. He shouldn`t have mentioned it in the first place, "uh…" he started uncomfortably, avoiding Ocelot`s gaze, but stopped, unable to bring himself to utter the next words.

"I know what I'm doing." Ocelot said gruffly, he was referring to their meeting.

Pain crossed Snake`s eyes and Ocelot wasn`t the one to miss it. He held his gaze and straightened up slowly, eyebrows furrowing in confusion. As much as Snake struggled, he couldn`t look away from the penetrating eyes, watching with uncertainty as the paler soldier neared him. His heart hammered in his chest when Ocelot stood directly in front of him after only a few long steps. They stood like this for another few moments, although to them it felt like a whole perpetuity, before Ocelot extended his hand slowly. Snake furrowed his eyebrows only slightly, not averting his gaze from the light eyes which held resolve mixed with hesitation.

As his cold fingers brushed against the lean cheek, Ocelot could feel that he was holding his breath. He ran them across the other`s face gently, Snake didn`t flinch but kept staring at him steadily, slightly confused. It seemed to him as though the connection only had effect on him. When he felt like the proximity would burn his fingers, he retreated his hand, not breaking the eye contact, and said softly, "you need to redo your face paints." he was aware of the fact that his breath washed over the other`s face.

"I know." Snake`s voice sounded low and husky as he blinked and looked away, breaking the contact that was killing him. Ocelot was so close that he could almost lean over and…

Ocelot took a step back, rubbing his fingers at the side of his pants. He noticed his heart beat was still far from normal but his breathing was slowly coming back as the distance between them increased. "I…" he ran his hand through his hair, making his already ruffled fringe messier. "I better get going."

Watching him do his usual hand gesture, Snake felt himself fighting not to lose self control. He didn`t say anything, just turned his back to where Ocelot was headed, for the sake of his and the other`s sanity.

A/N: man, this chapter has got me hyperventilating!

cool no?? i apologize if it seems like i`m prasing myself but i`m not... I`m praising Snake and Ocelot!

review and let me know what you think!