Metal n' Chains

Salem (any pronouns idgaf), 29, Attempting to art digitally, also I crochet way too much. I'm also attempting to write more Main: https://www.tumblr.com/metalprincess4 Fandom: https://www.tumblr.com/salemscorner

[metalnchains]

Salem's rambling masterlist

Realized if i keep actually writing that i won't be able to find anything if i don't have my ramblings pinned...

SIMON RILEY Simon's Staring

Snow Day

Ghost Meets a Ghost 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

KYLE GARRICK Work for it

Pizza and Dye

Baking Adventures

JOHNNY MACTAVISH

Johnny's Lucky Charm 1

JOHN PRICE

Winter Nights

NIKTO

Head Storm

NIKOLAI

Hockey Time

[metalnchains]

Hockey Time

cw: age gap implied, but not outright stated.

You’d been bouncing with nerves all day. Glancing at the clock after what felt like an hour, only to see it’d only been a minute and a half. As soon as the work day ended you’d bolted out the door amid confused stares to your borrowed room to prepare for the extremely early start to the weekend you had planned. Being an American sports fan across any pond came with issues. Double if your games happened to be in the evening this far away from home, which of course yours were. College hockey start times were annoying to keep on top of even in the states sometimes, but trying to watch from all the way in Russia required much planning on your part. Plans included hoarding snacks, as early of a dinner as you could manage, and a very unfortunate 3am phone alarm. But if you could stay strong you’d be able to watch all four games, with enough time afterwards to slip back into bed for an hour or two before it became too light to doze. It was time to set your plan in motion. 3am came with a jolt, a jump, and a quiet groan. Peeling your eyes open was a struggle, even if you were excited. You had 15 minutes to set up your nest in the rec room, and fiddle with your laptop praying to the tech gods that your connection was functional enough. Hopefully sitting on the couch and not your bed would help with keeping your eyes open. With a yawn you gathered your supplies. A laptop, headphones, your blanket, some gold fish, and three energy drinks just in case. God help you if Price or Laswell happened upon you in the rec room, you’d be disappointed parented to within an inch of your life for this. Finally you settled in to watching the first game, content in your cozy cocoon.

________________________________________________________________

It was going to be one of those nights. The ones where sleep evaded him at every turn. Maybe it was simply the restlessness that came with having no imminent missions to run. It could have also been reminiscing with John so late. The older they got the more staying up til the wee hours came back to bite him right on the ass. He lifted his head just high enough to glance beside him at his clock. 3am, far too early for anyone to be up, and far too late to still be awake. 

 Rolling over onto his back with a heavy sigh, he could feel it itching in his skin, the need to get up and do something, to move his body, anything to distract from his thoughts. Maybe water would help? He shuffled into the kitchenette with a gritted jaw upon seeing the glow of electricity. One of the damn kids had left the television on in the rec room… again. With a huff he rounded the corner and promptly came up short seeing a blanketed lump staring at him with wide startled eyes from the couch. Weren't you just the most precious lil thing?

________________________________________________________________

“What are you doing so late, little one?” He murmured, eye taking in the cozy shelter you’ve built for yourself. He slipped closer to you with every word until he could see what had had you up so early on a Saturday, eyebrows shooting up when the screen came into view. You had 4 seemingly separate hockey games on all at once.

Eyes widening more the closer he slunk to you. Your eyes felt about ready to pop out of your skull when his arm extended and rested on the back of the couch around your shoulders, his head and right arm coming to rest just to the right of your shoulder. He was so close you could feel his body heat. You'd never gotten this close to him before. He always seemed to be on deep discussions with the captain and Laswell, or far too engrossed with mechanics to take much notice of the newest member of the hodge podge mix the 141 always seemed to be involved with. Probably a good thing all things considered really. Distance made it far easier to avoid accidentally making some sort of awestruck face at him. Plus if you stuttered, or stammered in front of either Kyle or Johnny you, and your ego would be toast. You'd managed to keep your gaze aloof and professional so far, at least no one had teased you yet. The streaks of grey on his temples shown bright in the harsh light of the screen. Made even brighter with the contrast to the rest of his dark hair. The lines of his face made him look much older than he was. Your brain, and soul fell back into your body all at once when you realized he had turned his head towards you and his lip was curled in a small smirk at your continued silence.

You closed your mouth with a small click, face burning, you managed out a small, meek "I…was going to watch the college…championships". With a glance and a gasp you realized that the team you had favored for game one had gotten the puck into scoring range. As the players scrambled to score, and defend at once you felt his heavy hand sliding to close around your shoulder.

_______________________________________________________________

He'd noticed you immediately of course. It would be a gross over sight on his part if he didn't closely observe those who were in his base of operations a bit, even if he trusted John to properly thoroughly vet his soldiers. You were, as the saying goes, bright eyed and bushy tailed. Eager to please your superiors as best you could. He'd noticed your glazed eyes when Price had grunted a 'good job' at you during a drill. And your small smile when Laswell had reminded Soap you got a better mark than he had during another.

You had the same open wonderment on your face when he'd surprised you just a minute ago. Daring to push a little for a reaction, he pushed into your shoulder with his thumb, dragging it up and down as he observed you staring at the screen with rapt attention. With no outward reaction, he moved around the couch to sit at your right…closely. With legs touching, his arm fully around your shoulders, and your adorable doe eyed glances at the bit of chest hair coming out of his top, he began "You know I played defense when I was younger…." You were definitely going to have no trouble at all staying awake now.

[metalnchains]

zero context OPLA spoiler. Made this joke today and i'll never reach this peak again

[metalnchains]

It wasn’t often you get to admire him like this. Soft, with lashes brushing lightly on his cheeks, deep breaths gently moving his chest up and down in a smooth rhythm. Relaxed and at peace for once in his life. Normally he’d already be up and watching the sunrise, or bustling around the kitchen making breakfast and grouching at your own breakfast of a cereal bar, or even fussing with the coffee machine he swears hates him specifically. Remembering the first time he’d tried to use it solo brought a small grin to your face as you gazed at him. For not even hitting 45 yet, he was truly amazing at the elderly grandpa cursing at new technology bit. He’d glared at you decidedly unimpressed the first time you’d shown him the “old man yells at cloud” meme while giggling at him. Scooting closer to him, you were able to see the prominent dark circles he had sported the night before had lessened some. They would take a night or two more of decent sleep to vanish and make him look less haggard. From here you could see the bit of stubble he’d decided wasn’t worth the effort to shave when he’d gotten home last night. He hated the feeling of hair under his gear under normal circumstances, so it was easy to forget he could grow any if it was left alone long enough. From this close you could see how much lighter some of it was than the darker blonde on his head. Resisting the urge to lightly touch him was growing more and more difficult. Even if you knew he’d wake up immediately, after nearly four months apart from him all you wanted to do was smother him underneath yourself and never let him leave your space. But for the time being, simply sliding up against him would have to suffice. 

Luckily for you he’d only been dozing for a while. Having to watch your back out of mission after mission would make anyone hyper aware of eyes staring at you. With a deep breath, and a small smile, he pulled you flush against him, relaxing once more into sleep. It felt good to be home.

[metalnchains]

Head Storm

On days like today he wanted nothing more than to hide away in his room with the lights off and a blanket over the window. There's always been days when they scream and argue too loudly for him to think clearly, or even function. He’s learned to cope with that in the years since it happened. However, it’s always an especially bad day when their arguments were combined with training. The sky always seemed to be too bright, making his eyes themselves hurt, and frenzying the voices more with the pain. His teammates spirited, wise cracking voices, which usually provided a sense of welcome normalcy, grated, and melded into a slurry of noise that felt like it was physically pressing into his ear drums. He was lucky if he could focus on one thing for more than five minutes before needing to rub at his temples, or eyes in frustration and pain. Pain was a permanent travel companion for him nowadays, but there was something worse about the pain that no amount of patches, creams, or massaging could get rid of. The type of pain that you either had to sit and suffer through it, or try and medicate away with a prayer thrown in for good measure so that the pills hopefully work this time.

Current circumstances were not boding well for his pain or his temper. He’d lost hope for relief after hour 6. It’d started before dawn and had only gotten worse the longer he was awake. The mess hall had nearly caused him to snap. He was used to a few glances here and there when he was in line, especially if there were any soldiers from other countries staying on base. People who were unused to his appearance and blunted single word answers. But his expression today was enough to send the others scurrying to other parts of the room. An impressive feat with only his eyes visible, and would normally give him a bit of an ego boost knowing he was so intimidating to the snot nosed recruits, but today had only made him scowl and bristle under his balaclava, voices inside screeching and screaming about rudeness, and making everything worse. How he’d gotten through the rest of the day's training without incident was truly a marvel.

It was more of the same for the dinner rush. He’d tried to get in and get out with a tray as quickly as possible, but had the misfortune to get behind two younger soldiers loudly bragging about not being thrown by the weather like they’d been warned they would. The one had not even flinched at seeing him glaring at him from behind, and had even gotten louder in an apparent dominance display complete with a cocky grin thrown at his fellow recruit. He never enjoyed hosting other companies, and this was further solidifying that fact. There was only one reason he hadn’t jumped on the first assignment out of here while hosting, and he hadn’t seen them all day. Most likely holed up in meetings. 

He’d nearly run out of the mess with his tray once served. He would have started truly running if Maxim, and Dmitry hadn’t been loitering about the exit. While Dmitry wasn’t one to tease, Maxim would have never let him live it down, especially if Rodion could be found in a timely enough manner. As much as he secretly appreciated that he was treated no differently than the other soldiers by his squad, today would’ve ended badly. He was always grateful that he’d been afforded nearly a whole building to himself at times like these. He felt comfortable enough to eat at the common room table, content in the knowledge that there was a slim chance of someone entering, especially since his building mates were gone at the present time. Even hosting the Shadow company, there were few people staying here, and they were on the other side of the building entirely.  Eating at a table instead of holed up in his room on his bed, or his desk felt like normalcy he wasn’t often granted. Logically he knew that he wouldn’t be screamed at or treated like a monstrous thing that lurks in the night should he be found without his mask. But considering his current frustration level and tolerance even one more glance his way or a whisper would be enough for a violent outburst. It wasn’t until nearly three hours later, long after he’d finished eating that he’d finally felt ok enough to go sneak his tray back into the mess. He’d nearly run back to his building with a promise to himself of a warm shower and long lay down on his bunk in as much darkness as he could make happen considering the security lights around. Hopefully with all that combined, both his head and his voices would calm the hell down and let him sleep tonight. Trying to parse out what they’d been arguing over all day had been the cherry on top of his shitty ass day. Over the years he’d been able to lessen their distractions, and allow him to function seemingly normally on the field. They were normally like a mosquito or a fly that was buzzing instead of a clamor. But the migraine he’d felt all day was lessening his control, and allowing them to run rampant in his head. It was like having two phones held up to his ears and trying to pay attention to each conversation at once. He was half up the stairs when he finally heard his savior speaking. You were finally finished with your meetings, and were relaxing in the common room it seemed. Hearing your soft voice, however quietly, felt like a weight lifting. It had been too long since he’d seen you last. It wasn’t often your company came visiting, or them to you. You’d been achingly sweet the last time you’d met. You were an assistant of some sort, he’d never bothered to learn your title. You’d been following Graves around that day furiously scribbling away on your clipboard, or typing on your laptop in the few meetings he’d sat in on. 

You’d been polite. Held his eye contact and even smiled at him while fixing up a coffee station in one of the rooms. So different from what he was normally met with upon first meeting anyone who didn’t already know him. If he recalled correctly he had loomed over you during that exchange in an experiment to see how a cute, soft creature like yourself would react to an obvious threat. Throughout that stay he’d started lurking in the rooms he learned you’d likely be in. Simply basking in your presence while you scrolled on your phone, or watched something on your laptop, while he pretended to be engrossed in a book. Quiet and peaceful. You’d pulled out a project once, watching the way you twisted the yarn, and the deft moving of your fingers was like a spell, and the quietest his head had been in a long time.

Unfortunately his admiration of you wasn’t as subtle as he’d hoped. While you, yourself had never mentioned any of his gazing or gave him any funny looks about it, his squad mates had poked and prodded relentlessly whenever you weren’t in the room with him. Even going so far to ask when the wedding would be. That quip had earned Rodion a non too soft smack to the back of his head. If it had been anyone else it would have been a closed fist.  

He’d sprinted to his room and showered in record time lest you finish whatever you were doing and escape to your room before he could see you. Freshly showered and in far comfier clothes he slunk down to the other end of the building where you were relaxed into an arm chair, reading aloud without a care in the world. A book about dinosaurs if he was hearing correctly. Slow and steady your voice washed over him taking some tension from his shoulders with it. You hadn’t noticed him yet. It wasn’t until he sunk down onto the neighboring couch with a quiet rumbling greeting that you’d taken notice and stopped reading to blink up at him in surprise, mouth agape. That simply wouldn’t do at all. 

With a grunted command your mouth twitched up in a small smile, and began reading your book again while he slowly felt himself melting into the couch cushions. Your knitted eyebrows and small stutters over the dinosaur names were adorable. With his head tilted back and hands held in his lap he finally, blissfully closed his eyes and sighed. Having one singular voice to focus on, coming from someone not screaming orders was a relief he didn’t get to feel often. You being flushed and a little squirmy with an audience was just a bonus for him. You were so quick to help him with this when he’d asked. Perhaps if he wheedled and cajoled you gently enough, you’d be willing to read to him in his bed, preferably with his head cradled on your chest or stomach. Content currently with keeping his hands and musings to himself, he simply let you serenade him into a tranquil state. 

Finally his voices were no longer arguing and disjointed, they were all in agreement that they wouldn’t allow such a sweet thing to slip away from them this time around. He’d find out your schedule tomorrow, maybe even walk to the mess with you in the morning. Baby steps really, but for now dinosaurs.

[metalnchains]

Salem's drunken ramblings part: whatever tf

Havent done this a long ass time. excuse any typos my ass is toasted lol. Ive been reading all lot of Simon rileyX enough food from reader lately. I can't even imagine how thankful he'd be being sent home with a whole ass tray of food if someone were to make him dinner, actual dinner, not just reheated frozen stuff. I just wanna bake him so makny cookies or little nibbly things. Get him a nice chubby layer all over him, especially if he were to retire, him and Johnny would have such a cute lil layer on them. Just big ol' men able to envelope you no matter how tell or chubby you yourself are. I just wanna cuddle them so bad TToTT Also been watching a lot of Ioan Ciuchi's tiktoks which isnt helping this fantasy. He looks like chubby Soap i swear TToTT

[metalnchains]

I'm finally done with all my coworkers gifts for Christmas. Its a miracle my fingers didn't fall off.

[metalnchains]

Hi!

That’s so cool you got to meet Neil! I hope you had fun!

If you’re willing, can you share some details about your experience? The internet is dreadfully lacking in Neil content :(

I had a lot of fun meeting him! He really liked the mini Soap i made for him, and asked how long he took to make. We basically just had small talk, about my job and where im from, whether the con i was at was a day trip from me, or if i was there for the whole weekend. It was maybe a five minute conversation. He seemed pretty excited to meet everyone that was there, tho i didn't see him interacting with the people who were behind me in line.

[metalnchains]

Snow Day

Today was not a day for doing, it was only a day for lazing and snuggling. Which was troublesome since your snuggle partner is not here. Normally you’d have both gone out to the shops and made a day of it. Grab some food, and maybe a warm drink for the ride home. Even though he’d be grumbling about how many people were out, and about how much something or another had gone up in price, you knew he secretly enjoyed the monotony of doing the weeks shopping with you. He’d pretend to put up a fight about how many snacks you’d add, and occasionally sneak in one or two more that you’d not seen on the shelf, which was always a welcome surprise. But this time he’d gone out before you’d felt like braving the chill of the house. And so here you sat, in the den with a blanket on your lap, and a rapidly chilling mug of tea. 

Outside the windows, the driveway was already so covered in snow that you couldn’t see the tire tracks he’d left when he pulled out. It was even too cold for the birds to be pecking at their feeder outside the kitchen window. You hoped you’d remembered to add more bird seed to the list before he’d taken it with him. If the little things starved for a day you’d feel terrible. 

The chill in the house was beginning to get to you even through your blanket and slippers, and at times like this there was nothing left to do… but to hunker down in a fort with snacks of course. Coming to a decision, and peeling yourself up from your little nest on the couch, you set to work on clearing enough room for your  little project of the day. The coffee table was shoved to the wall, the air mattress from the closet was pumped up, and three of the kitchen chairs were kidnapped from the dining table. The quilt you two stored in the chest in the bedroom was recruited to be your roof, and nearly all the rest of the blankets in the house were piled in layers on the mattress. The pillows were placed around the edge of the mattress like a barrier to any chill that could come from the edge of the quilt. Your snacks were tossed into a basket, mugs, mug warmers, and the kettle were plugged in. The final step was to place his slippers and loungewear in the kitchen so he’d get the hint before he turned the corner. Now you just needed to wait for your big, bad teddy bear to get home. It was gonna be perfect. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The people that shopped this early in the morning were insane, he’d decided. It’d been so long since he last did the week’s shopping by himself that he'd forgotten just how much he hated being here. You made the experience much more manageable. He missed the way you’d grin and grab a new crisp flavor to try, even though you both knew you’d hate it. He was all alone with his thoughts, and the sense that the older women in the baking aisle with him were not terribly amused how much time he spent debating over what brand of bread flour you would want more. The sooner he got to go home the better. All he wanted to do was crawl into your lap and nap while you had some sort of terrible show on with low volume, and your hands in his hair scratching his scalp. He looked forward to it every time he was on leave in the winter. Sometimes you’d even start to explain the shows to him. Listening to your voice was a surefire way to put him to sleep like a baby with ten minutes of lying down. It was odd that the kitchen was dark when he came through the door with his bags. He’d expected you to be in your usual chair with a mug in your hand this time of morning. And it was even more odd that there was only one chair at the table with his pajamas on the seat and his slippers beneath…

Setting the bags on the table he turned to find what the hell you’d done to the house in the hour and half he’d been gone. That’s when he saw you grinning from inside your nest of soft things.

He probably set the world record for grocery put away. Nothing was going to stop him from wasting the entire rest of the day, and possibly tomorrow on that shitty air mattress with you. Besides, he reasoned, the two of you will probably be snowed in tomorrow anyway.

[metalnchains]

It’s so exciting that you got to meet Neil, happy for you! I’m curious how he looked, does he still have the long hair and beard?

He's got the beard! Looks very cute for winter :3 He did cut his hair shorter tho.

[metalnchains]

Neil is soooo fucking nice! I'm so glad I didn't chicken out of meeting him. TToTT

[metalnchains]

I'm going to Galaxycon this Sunday, and meeting Neil Ellice! I'm so excited! I've made a little Soap keychain for him :3

[metalnchains]

Baking Adventures

This was a disaster. 

A complete disaster the likes of which this kitchen had never seen…

He was so fucked. 

Kyle Garrick prided himself on being adaptable, dependable, and above all excellent at whatever he set his mind to. He has an outstanding record in his career, enough to be recognized as Captain Price’s protege. He keeps his living space well organized, and clean. He makes a point to file away information on the people closest to him so as to surprise them with small gifts from his missions or from the shops. He’s developed his cooking skills to as much of a tee as one could without culinary school. 

The two of you had been dating for nearly a year and half by now. He could honestly say you were his favorite person. Soap had caught him on multiple occasions grinning down at his phone when you texted him. You never failed to update him about your day, whether that was getting stuck in traffic with a frowny face, or a picture of the stray tom cat outside your building that you’d been plotting to capture for a month now. The little shit was apparently just smart enough to stay just out of reach much to your annoyance. You were planning to move into his flat once your lease was up, and you were determined to bring the cat with you. He bragged about you to his squad. Johnny had told him with a grumble that he looked stupid with all the hearts in his eyes whenever he brought you up. For your part you’ve bragged that he was the best thing to have ever happened to you on many separate occasions, a badge that he wore honor. Although if you were to see what he was currently doing to your kitchen you may take that sentiment away rather quickly. 



He was currently on a much needed leave, and he’d slipped over to your apartment after you’d left for your office early in the morning. With the weather turning sharply colder you’d been bemoaning that you haven’t had time to bake all the treats and breads you’d like. Normally you’d have already sent him to base with trays and plates stacked high with brownies, or cupcakes for the boys, but with the end of the year looming you’d been stuck in your office more often. As a consolation he’d thought that the spiced sweet bread you were fond of would be a nice surprise. What he hadn’t accounted for was the devastation flour could unleash upon an unsuspecting person.



He currently looked like he’d decided to swim in a vat of flour instead of baking. Flour was in his hair, on his face, and covering his shirt in a layer of dust. The counters and oven to the right hadn’t fared any better. He hadn’t even gotten to the third step in your recipe. With a grumble and a huff he grabbed a dish towel and began his clean up. At least you weren’t going to be home for several hours yet. He had plenty of time to wrangle this dough into some semblance of order. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You were exhausted. This project had nearly killed you, but now it was over. The presentation had gone as smoothly as possible, and your boss was impressed with your team’s combined efforts. All the late nights, and overtime were so worth it. You were in a prime spot for that promotion that was currently being discussed. Thank god your boss had called the team for only half a day. All you wanted to do was crawl into your pajamas, and beg Kyle to come over for a cuddle, a movie, and all the takeout you could eat. It wasn’t often you had the time to see him during the week. You were both busy adults with demanding careers after all. The next few months til your lease ended couldn't go by fast enough. Then you could see your wonderful boyfriend everyday. The thought was enough to make you giddy. With a grin at the thought of your plans you opened your door to your apartment to….

whatever this was

You had rounded the corner after coming in the door to find Kyle…cursing at your stand mixer? It wasn’t until he turned his head to your oven that you saw his ah…powdered state. With a smile you knocked twice on the door jamb. His head nearly came free of his neck with how fast he whipped around to face you. You smiled wider at his expression, who knew he could open his eyes that wide? “Sooooo, what’s all this?” you asked, coming closer and brushing some flour off his face before pecking his cheek. “S’possed to be bread.” He mumbled with a glare leveled at the mixer. With a sigh he began his cleaning again. 

You gently held onto his arm and smiled into him before declaring “Let me shower, and we can make it together” A hum was all he gave in response. 

After a nice warm shower and in your precious pajamas you came into a clean kitchen, with your boyfriend sitting in a chair with his elbows on his knees looking for all the world like a toddler put in timeout. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “After adding the eggs, you need to put in the flour only half a cup at a time” You patiently explained. Kyle was currently listening to your explanation with his head resting on yours and holding you from behind gently rocking back and forth. His pouting from the table only lasted long enough for you to grab the eggs out of the fridge. You were irresistible when you wore your comfy clothes around the house. While he was still upset that he’d failed in his planned surprise, this was honestly infinitely better in his opinion. You’d always come over with baked goods already finished whenever you baked. He’d never had the opportunity to watch you in your element. It was nice. 

After the dough was set to rise the two of you settled on the couch. He’d changed into the sweats he kept at your place. Cuddled under your fluffiest blanket, with a childhood classic playing on the TV, and discussing which restaurant to choose from he relaxed. With a smile plastered onto his face he promised he’d start looking for a ring for you. 

He could definitely get used to this.

[metalnchains]

Winter Nights

The house, as it often was, was freezing. The winter wind and rain had come on suddenly this past week. Normally John would have gone around winterized the windows and checked for drafts in all the doors well before it hit, but he was gone for the foreseeable future in god knows where, and doing you don’t want to know. Ignorance was bliss afterall, not that that mantra helped when it came to missing him terribly. He was always so on top of the winter prep work that you had never really needed to give it a passing thought, which of course led to your current situation of trying to find the correct sized logs to fit in your heater. Even bundled in your warmest woolen hat and scarf your breath painted the air in front of you obscuring your vision momentarily every few seconds. Come hell, or barking up the chain of command over his head Captain John Price would never be taking another mission during the season’s change so help you…

After bumbling around the woodpile, and freezing your poor fingers and toes half to death, you finally stumbled through the door with your logs. Dropping them into the basket near the door, you turned to the clothes pegs lining the hallway of your home to debundle yourself. John’s favorite cabled sweater was still hanging on the peg where he’d left it, and his boots on the floor beneath it. Absently, you plucked at a stray bit of yarn on the shoulder seam of the sweater, smiling a bit at the voice of your husband grumbling that it was “a jumper luv, not a sweater”. It was by far his favorite thing you’d ever made for him. Crafty thing you were, you'd made him nearly an entire wardrobe out of yarn since you’d been together. He had grumbled and groaned at all the measuring and fitting that sweater had required but once the temperature dropped he was hardly ever seen without it on. Even on base if he could sneak it. Not that any of his men would rat him out about wearing it, they all had their fair share of cold weather accessories from you now too. 



Coming to a decision you quickly donned the sweater on, nuzzling your nose into the front to try and catch the smell of John’s cigars for a moment. The task of lighting the fire itself was an easy one, luckily. John had taken the time to train you on survival during your frequent camping trips. Much as you weren’t an outdoor person, you, and your frozen extremities were thankful for the lessons now. 



Dinner was nearly always a depressing affair when John wasn’t home. The first day or so was nice enough. You got to make your finger food buffet in peace. He always scolded you for it. Not enough nutrition apparently, not that it had ever stopped him from swiping his fair share of nuggets, and pizza rolls, usually directly from your plate before kissing your forehead in apology with a grin. But cooking most other meals for one was never your forte. You always ended up with leftovers for days. Today was no different. It was John’s favorite tonight, chicken and rice. He’d turned up his nose the first time you’d made it for yourself while you were still dating. Admittedly it wasn’t the prettiest of meals, and certainly nothing he’d ever had before. But that night you’d caught him snacking on it at 2am, and it’s been a winter staple in the house ever since. Rare was the day you made it without him here, but the cold and the silence were heavy today. He’d been gone for 4 months now, with only sporadic updates coming at odd hours. At this point you were getting desperate to feel his presence in the house. His jumper, favorite meal, and the fire would have to be enough for now. 


Belly full and warm you settled in to work on your next project. John had given you endless light hearted grief over this one. A large Scottish flag blanket that Soap could wave around during football nights. Johnny was loud and rambunctious during game night already, this is absolutely going to send him into overdrive. You grinned as you imagined the groans, banter, and hollering this will bring into your home. John’s peace and quiet will never be the same. The boys coming over was always a highlight of a week. John always looked like a proud peacock when they were over for dinner. Sitting at the head of the table with you by his side watching his boys relax. Even Simon would let loose a bit and gang up on one sergeant or the other with teasing. 

With a sigh you finally settled into bed. The many blankets you preferred acting like a weighted quilt. John’s pillow as a buffer to the cold at you front. It was now you missed him the most. The chill of the night had settled into the mattress. John ran warm, almost too warm in the summer. But you always slept better with him in the house. Even if he stayed up after you, knowing he was close was a calming balm to your nerves. You sighed again at the thought of another fitful night in your future. Hopefully he’ll be home soon. 


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That was a surprisingly good night. You slept well, didn’t wake up a single time, at least none you could recall. and better yet not a single dream had disturbed you. Normally when John was gone this lone you’d dream of his distress. But none of those had come for you.  The bed had stayed warm and cozy for once. You’d even managed to not kick off the top blanket. 



As you laid there breathing in the sharp morning air your senses sharpened. There was an arm around your middle and a weight to your back. Steady breaths ruffled the top of your hair. With a grin, you turned and kissed his face. 



John Price was home at last.

[metalnchains]

I've been reading a lot of Hybrid!reader/ Call of duty characters, and i've been thinking about this combo of critters since i saw a mole tiktok :3 Mole reader who stays in their lane, maybe a secratary/ office worker who just scurries about and keeps a low profile. Big thick glasses, short and chubby, preferring dim rooms to brightly lit busy areas like the mess hall (Im projecting lol). They do their best to not draw attention from any of the predator hybrids that the base is rife with. All they wanna do is do the work and go home to their beds. Its all going well not being noticed til they have to drop off papers etc to an Owl hybrid, equally as quiet but far more intimidating. Who locks onto poor reader and quietly follows them around base and keeps tabs on them, perking up whenever they catch their little mole's voice. I'm thinking either Ghost or Price personally, but Gaz would be one to play the long game too i think, especially if he asks Price for any advice.

[metalnchains]

Pizza and Dye

The house was far too quiet. 

When he got home he normally walked in on you bustling around the kitchen making dinner, with a podcast or music playing in the background while you worked. It was always a welcome sight to come home to, helping him shed the stress of his military life at the threshold. But you weren’t where you normally were, there wasn't any singing greeting him with a grin and an off key high note. You weren’t even in the bedroom napping. If it weren’t for your car in its normal place he’d bet money you were out about. That’s when he heard it. 

The unmistakable sound of heavy guitars, and blaring drums. Your concentration music. 

Looking out the kitchen window he saw you stirring a pot of steaming…something with a stick from the front yard, and bouncing along to the beat. 

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------- You were making great progress! For only getting this idea at 10am this morning this little project was coming along nicely. It’d definitely be finished in time for this weekend trip to the renaissance festival. You just needed to let the fabric sit in the dye for 10 more minutes according to the box, then it just needed to be hung to dry. And with time to spare before Kyle got home. 

You grabbed a piece of pizza out of the box and leaned on the counter to wait. Unfortunate that you beloved boyfriend chose that moment to announce he was home by coughing.

With a splutter and a flail you spun around to face whoever snuck up on you only to be greeted by Kyle grinning face. You quickly went to silence your speakers.

“What… are you up to luv?” he questioned peering into your steaming pot of dye.

“Well…you know how we were going to the festival on saturday” At his nod you continued “I thought having a purple blouse would go great with my skirt and belts, but I didn’t want to dye my others. Sooo I went to 3 different thrift shops to find a white blouse, and picked up dye. I’m almost finished.” you finished.

He hummed his understanding. “Do you want to get a takeout?” he asked as he turned to look at you.

You held up your pizza. “I got your favorite. Its staying warm in the oven.” you grinned. “If you go shower I’ll be all finished here with this, and we can watch something while we eat?” You suggested.

“Sounds like a plan” Kyle muttered into your hair before kissing the top of your head before turning to go inside and smirking to himself. He’d tell you about the couple spots of purple dye on your cheek later….maybe, you looked cute when it was clear you were having a blast crafting creating, and you looked good in purple anyway.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I always get last minute ideas for projects when i have a thing to attend, and i think gaz would love a creative partner even if i dont think he enjoys creating himself. He likes seeing the spark in your eyes when an idea hits you out of no where, and how you problem solve on the fly.

[metalnchains]

Ghost Meets a Ghost 5

(Divider credit https://www.tumblr.com/strangergraphics) Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

First time writing actual dialogue, please be gentle.

—------------(Ghostie)

You’d clearly miscalculated here somewhere. You hadn’t actually thought that Johnny would be able to see you, and now here he was looking at you like you were the reaper coming to carry him away. 

“Hi” was really all you could think to breathlessly gasp as you stood to your full height next to him and took your hand away from his cheek.

He made that soft noise again as a response, and rapidly blinked.

“Can you actually see me?” You rasped. Your voice sounded terrible, even to your own ears. It had been years since you last tried to use it.  He nodded stiffly. 

“You can see me…You can hear me…” You murmured again with awe. Shoulders relaxing and eyes widening. Johnny began to slowly sit up, never taking his eyes off you. Slowly he made his way into a sitting position with his feet planted on the floor. He began to slowly reach out towards the top of your chest where your collar bones were. For once you didn’t move away, and let him try to touch you. His hand passed through you with slight resistance. He shuddered a little as the feeling of ice cold water covered his hand and wrist. “You’re dead, an’ ya cannae be here. I’m jus dreamin still that's all.” He muttered, pulling his hand away with a grimace. You’d scoffed. You were simply existing in your own house, he was the visitor. You reached out in a flash and pinched his bicep. “If you were still dreaming, I couldn’t do this.” You stated with an eye roll as he flinched away from the bite of your nails. He rolled onto his feet then and stepped away, regarding you more with curiosity than terror. He gave you an up and down and then crossed his arms. “Why can’t I touch ye?” He murmured softly. You could only shrug in response. The ways you could and could not interact with the world had never really made much sense to you. The only sure thing you knew was you were able to do more if you were well and truly furious about something. Any other time your ability to interact seemed to ebb and flow. It’s not like you’d ever had someone you could ask. The only person you saw on the regular had been the real estate agent that had showed Simon around. Simon counted too you supposed, but he’d been away for over a month. Stepping closer to Johnny you took a second to look him up and down as he had you. He was a fair bit shorter than Simon was, but just as broad. Deciding that you could play it up a little you circled around him and gave him a good going over. He stood straight as an arrow just like Simon did, and never let you out of his sight as you circled. Definitely a soldier then. Coming around to his front again you crossed your arms like he had and tilted your head. 

“What are two soldiers doing over here anyway? You’re a long way from home.” You finally demanded. In the time Simon has been gone you’d been trying to figure out why’d he’d come across the pond in the first place. Even eavesdropping a hair’s breath away from his few phone calls hadn’t given you an answer. “Wanted a change.” was all Johnny whispered with a shrug. How helpful…

As Johnny continued eyeing you, you felt your strength fading. You normally rested during the day, but these two visitors were too interesting to leave today. Even when you were active, hovering near windows didn’t exactly sap your energy levels. But touching and interacting with the world was exhausting…apparently you’d forgotten that lovely human trait.  “I’m sorry I scared you. You should sleep. We can maybe talk tomorrow” you muttered softly, as you stepped back towards the door. Johnny edged himself towards the bed as you turned to go, never breaking eye contact. Turning you glanced at the still lightly snoring lump that was Simon in the other bed and crept down the stairs. Leaving a confused Scotsman to grapple with his mortality and beliefs in your wake. 

—-------------------(Simon) 

Johnny was more interested in the house than he’d given him credit for apparently. The house tour that second day had been enlightening to say the least. He now had a name to put with his mystery photos on the mantle. From Johnny’s brief research, it was a right shame what had gone down in the basement. Even worse that it’d happened to such a pretty face. They’d been cute on their social media profiles that Soap had been able to find. Bright smile, and a lively glow around their eyes. As battle hardened as he was, civilian deaths were still hard to hear about. 

Crawling into his own bed, in his own house, had felt amazing, even if Johnny was shuffling far more than necessary.

It wasn’t even two hours later that he awoke to Johnny…talking? Listening in, it almost sounded like a complete conversion. As far as Simon had ever known Soap, he’d never talked in his sleep. The closest he’d ever gotten was Kyle teasing him half awke and nearly a week without regular sleep. And even half awake his responses were jumbled  and nonsensical at best, and complete gibberish at worst. Not complete sentences. Very strange. He’d ask about the dream in the morning. 

Right now he was too cozy under his blanket with the slightest temperature drop going past him. 

—------------------- (3rd)

Johnny looked awful. Like he hadn’t slept at all. His hair was mussed and his eyes had dark circles, and he was slumped over the table staring at his breakfast while not really looking at it. 

“Wot were you on about last night? Talking an awful lot.” Simon spoke in the silence over his mug.

“Dreamed about the wee hen in the basement. Was standing over me. Touched me.” He slurred.  “Hmmmm. They look dead?” Simon smirked. Soap must have been truly exhausted from that last op if he was so vividly dreaming about someone he’d never even met.

“Naw,  they looked….” He started, then glanced open mouth at Simon’s shoulder.

Turning, Simon came face to face with ‘the wee hen’ themselves…glaring at him.