the thing about cigarettes in mgs4 is that snake is Already Dying and otacon has like given up on taking the cigarettes away but still like. disapprovingly ignores snakes smoking? (sunny tries taking them away, and its implied that she learned that from otacon).
and at one point right before the Final Mission after otacons been like ‘snake what if you like, Didnt go on this horrible basically-suicide-mission’ and snakes like ‘no i still have things i need to do. why dont YOU quit’ and otacons like ‘no i still also have things i need to do’, snake gets out the second to last cigarette he has on him and otacon lights it for him and it IS like. a kiss.
and its this romantic but also kinda really sad moment bc its. otacon reaching out to help snavid and its kind of a recommitting as Partners moment that hearkens back to the old days when snake was an Action Hero Smoking Cigarettes but wasnt actively dying of a terminal illness. but its also like, an acknowledgement that snake is Dying and that otacon cant do anything to stop it so their old argument abt the cigarettes and daves health is like. over.
(and then also at the end of the game when snake is like ‘well i am going to live happily w my family for the time i have left’ the way thats conveyed is w him saying ‘nah, im quitting. those things’ll kill you!’ which is like. him giving up this unhealthy coping mechanism symbolically even if it wont Fix His Health)
