#ghost mwii

[duskpretty-art]

"I told you, people you know can hurt you the most.”

(Ghost x OC)

[m-1-8]

There’s just something about this spooky scary skeleton

[stalkerzmimic]

SUMONSNNSHAGWFQGGQGWGWGWGWHWD64D7TDTUDUTUTDSUTUARUSTSTUSUTSRUSURSAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

SIMONNNNN

[oldrainfall]

CW: Nothin much— just me being abnormal about Ghost’s mask again, because amidst all my WIPs and shit I have to do, that’s apparently where my brain wants to focus rn.

Hiya. Hullo. I’ve got a lot of deadlines coming up that I’m procrastinating. So you know what that means?

✨More Simon ‘Ghost’ Riley mask headcannons✨ ft. me yapping about two of my WIPs at the very end (one Ghoap, and one König x reader).

(I stg masks aren’t even my thing, they just give me so many brain worms for no good reason.)

So I’ve yapped about Ghost wearing a mask when he’s on leave before— but I’ve got a new HC about it.

He doesn’t wear one of those black medical masks just to hide his facial scarring.

That’s a part of it, of course. Sometimes he just wants to keep his head down and get whatever he needs from the shops without having some bright eyed kid staring blatantly at the scars marring his face like they haven’t seen anything like it before (they probably haven’t. He doesn’t blame them for it, he remembers when he was first well enough to stumble from his bed in medical towards the nearest bathroom, and just stared and stared at the messy stitches going from the middle of his cheekbone, just below his eye, and curved down to the now missing chunk of his top lip). Or someone older than him poorly concealing their harsh whispers with a slight turn of their head towards whoever they were shopping with.

But that’s not the only reason.

Another was that — not that’d he’d ever willfully admit it — he felt far too exposed without it these days. In the rare times he did go without it, it made his skin crawl, like he was skulking down the streets without any shoes on. Didn’t feel somewhat settled until he gave in and put it back on, or managed to make it back to his under decorated flat, away from the world and any too curious eyes.

But if he was truly being honest with himself?

He couldn’t hide his expression for shit. An unfortunate caveat of wearing a mask all the time, is he’s gotten far too complacent with the face that people cannot see most of his face. Oftentimes he finds himself frowning or scowling at bad calls made by other soldiers, or his upper lip twisting in distain, pulling on his scar tissue rather uncomfortably, a reflexive reaction to watching the greenies almost do themselves in by something utterly stupid.

It’s not like he’s incapable of doing so if he needs to, but it takes a conscious effort on his part. Which, unfortunately, transferred to the rare times he was without a mask, too.

And, honestly, it’s easier to wear the ruddy mask than to nearly get kicked out of the closest Greggs to his flat again, because some poor bird thought he was pulling faces at her (which he’s sure is quite the sight with how his scars pull and pin his skin— he’s never checked, doesn’t want to know if it’s as bad as he thinks, but he can imagine) when he was in actuality just dead on his feet after a gruelling deployment, and frustratedly trying to do mental maths to figure out if whatever special was on was actually worth the bother of ordering.

Idk, I just love HCs that are startlingly human compared to the persona Ghost puts forward on the field.

Out of curiosity, would y’all be more interested in a Kelpie!Soap AU fic— or a long-shot style 141 operator!Reader x König fic, more?

Kelpie!Soap is more fleshed out, and has Ghoap, but is very angst-bordering-on-whump-y. And is set in an alternate universe where Soap never got to join the 141, and primarily focuses on him and Ghost working together to get the 141 back after they were captured while Ghost was on a solo op. Where they have to learning how to navigate the other, and work together. It’s a heavier than anything I’ve written before, but I still have plans for more light hearted banter like I’m prone to writing. Tentatively titled, ‘At Your Service,’ at the ‘mo.

While Reader x König would probably be quicker for me to finish (if I can find good resources to learn his accent) and shorter, focused more on a reluctant co-workers to friends to lovers dynamic, where they grow closer over the course of planning and executing a major illegal goods bust. A bit more lighthearted, albeit it still has its moments, due to König’s social anxiety, and why they end up starting to grow closer because of it. Tentatively titled, ‘Covered,’ because I’m in my loving double meaning titles era rn, and think I’m very clever, lol.

I’m more than willing to elaborate on either if that’s not enough info to decide, just send me an ask / comment or whatever. But be warned I will probably yap more than is required.

(I even broke out a Pinterest board for the Kelpie!Soap au, that’s how excited I am about it. Apparently you can take a lad away from his shite mermaid literature, but you can’t remove the psych damage the shite mermaid literature did to him, and the petty desire to one up it to prove a point, lmao.)

✨ My Masterlist ✨

[oldrainfall]

Hiii i loved your post about ghost's mask hcs!! i love when ghosts mask gets used in narratives in fics and stuff too! I was wondering if you would comment on other "popular" headcanons for simon? (some ive seen: he has a sweet tooth, hes blonde, etc etc) do you prefer 09 ghost or reboog ghost? do you mix them up in terms of story/headcanons etc?

Sorry if i sound overbearing/asked too much lol, i just looove when people yap and make headcanons like this!! obviously answer whatever you like!

have a good day :-) 💖

Post this ask is about

Hi! Thanks for the ask— and it’s not too much at all. I welcome anything that lets me yap more about the 141, lol.

I’m going to answer your questions a bit out of order, just for simplicity’s sake.

So— I actually prefer reboot Ghost in general, but I love aspects about both characters. The first CoD games that I played were the MW reboots (solely for Soap), and because of that I tend to favour those versions of the characters.

That being said, I do like to mash both versions of the characters together. As much as I love the MW remakes, they uh, aren’t amazing at explaining most of the characters backstories. Which is less than ideal for me, because I’m the sort of writer that bases my characterizations on how I think their backstories molded them.

It probably fucks up the timeline, but I do tend to just tack on 09 Ghost’s backstory to 22 Ghost. But hey. A little wonky time logic is more preferable to me than just a big ol’ square of nothing on the timeline. (Plus it gives me more ammo for angst.)

I’m a bit new to the fandom (relatively speaking) so I don’t know too many popular HCs— but I’ll do my best. :>

I do think he has blonde hair, maybe a sort of a blonde/dirty-blonde-ish colour? Idk, I have like this specific shade in my brain that’s hard to find, lmao. Anyway, I think he’d have a slightly curly texture to his hair too, when he lets it get long enough to curl. Probably keeps it fairly short so he doesn’t have to bother with it much.

In a similar vein— scarring! I think he’d have a few facial scars, I’m a big ‘he has a scar cutting diagonally through his lip,’ truther. But he’d have a few other nicks here and there that didn’t heal quite right. Also, acne scars, definitely, mostly around the bridge of his nose and alone his cheekbones. Wearing that much eyeblack constantly and a mask all the time definitely fucks up the skin, at least a tad.

The ‘Do Not Resuscitate,’ tattoo across his chest. Definitely, yes. Give me all the angst involving this and inject it into my brain immediately please.

I’ve never heard the one about him having a sweet tooth before— but you know what? Hell yeah. Man’s takes three sugars with his tea, and half of what he eats on leave is junk food, what of it? Plus this works amazingly with my other HC that he can’t cook.

Nightmares + Light sleeper. He may be able to theoretically sleep anywhere, but it’s always a light sleep, and it’s always in stolen chunks of time, especially on a mission. If he wakes up, there’s no shot he’s falling back asleep anytime soon. I like to HC that he has nightmares on the field about the 141 dying in horrific ways that startle him awake— and to calm himself back down he has to go check on them to make sure they’re okay. Which is mildly traumatic to all parties the first few times when they’re still half asleep and roll over to see Ghost looming over them, trying to figure out if they’re breathing or not. Eventually they get used to it though, and don’t react to him other than a sleepy glance, and scooting over on whatever surface they have to pretend is a bed at the time so he can lay with them. Sometimes he can fall back asleep then, but he usually just keeps watch until they have to go.

Definitely makes his own masks, I mean, c’mon. Additional HC that his mum is the one that taught him to sew.

Drinks alcohol somewhat regularly— yes, but never very much of it. He can drink a lot, but he just prefers not to. Doesn’t want to chance getting out of control (cough 09 Ghost backstory trauma cough).

Idk if this one is popular or not— but I feel like he smokes a lot. I HC that it helps him think, and he feels safer doing it than drinking for stress relief. Probably would take smoke breaks with Price.

As for the dark romance stuff… Ehh… I think out of all the 141, Simon would be one of the more softer ones towards his partner. He’s not writing love letters or anything— but he’s definitely not throwing his partner around either. I feel like Simon would be ‘quietly affectionate,’ with his partner, doing what he can to take care of them or make their life a little bit easier. Personally since I use 09 Ghost’s lore for his backstory, there’s no way he’d be comfortable being overly rough or aggressive in an intimate scenario. Also, just to spread my propaganda, service switch Ghost for the win. •v• ↕️

I probably missed a few of the obvious popular ones— but oh well.

Hope that did your questions justice anon. :>

As always feel free to send me asks and requests.

✨My Masterlist✨

[oldrainfall]

CW: Discussion of/illusions to smut, mostly I just want to yap about Ghost’s mask again, and elements of fluff because I can’t help myself

There’s nothin’ graphic but like, MDNI, 18+

Thanks.

So I just saw a post about someone’s headcannons about Ghost, and I wanted to throw my own two cents about my own HCs out into the void.

A lot of people take a shine to Ghost because of his like, outwardly mysterious vibes and his mask. Which of course means there’s a lot of people with mask kinks just sort of surrounding him.

Resulting in a lot of like, smut (and thirst trap content) about his mask.

Which I mean, is it my thing? No.

And honestly, it’s why I didn’t really like Ghost as a character until I got my hands on the 09 Ghost lore comics— because I like to have a bit more depth to chew on when I’m writing.

But that being said, I understand why he gets characterized that way, and it doesn’t bother me that people do. Well I mean, it does a little, because again there’s so much nuance to play with and pick apart that I wished more people picked at (same with Gaz, but that’s another post).

Anyway— point is, I once again feel like Ghost’s mask could be used as an interesting narrative tool. :>

Picture this folks, mask kink smut, and character growth.

So what spurred this is a post with a HC that Ghost would shag with his mask on upon request. And I feel a resounding ‘ehhhh kinda?’ about this take.

Like I’ve said in the kissing post™️, Ghost uses his mask to distance himself from others, a physical barrier to obscure himself from those around him. With his mask on, people get to know Ghost, the scary bastard who’s very good at doing his job, and not Simon— there’s some overlap of course, same mildly morbid sense of humour, and it’s not like Simon forgets what he’s done once the mask comes off, but even so there is a bit of cognitive dissonance there, keeping the two as separate as possible and all that.

Which can cause some natural friction whenever someone starts to get closer to him.

So— scenario one, they (as in whoever he’s being shipped with, one of the 141, an x reader, an OC, etcetera) know Ghost, and gradually begin to know Simon.

I find that there’s a lot of angles to work with for this kind of premise, especially considering the position of the other person (another solider, a medic, a P.O.W like a captured scientist perhaps, etcetera) but I’ll try my best to simplify my thoughts.

In general I think this would work best as a slow burn, where they have to gradually get to know Ghost enough that he gets comfortable letting them know Simon.

Maybe (in the case of another solider or medic or what have you) it starts as a stress reliever after a particularly gruelling op when Ghost just wants to loose himself in something else for a while to get his mind off of it (but for him to feel comfortable with this, there’d have to be some sort of established relationship, where he trusts them to a certain extent). At first Ghost would always leave his mask on, whether that be the skull mask, or just a painted balaclava, just to maintain some emotional distance even while being intimate (if you could even call it that with how much of a rush they’re both in). Which then could spiral into a semi-regular thing where they start spending more time together and gradually catch feelings. Eventually culminating in Ghost feeling comfortable enough showing his face (whether that be organically, or due to extenuating circumstances like his mask getting wrecked or what have you), and a slower, softer moment.

Or— scenario two, they know Simon first.

If they meet when Simon’s off duty, I don’t think he’d ever wear the mask in bed. He likely associates the skull mask with a lot of horrible shit, and would want to keep all the horrible things he’s done as far away from his partner as he possibly can.

That being said, there is a good chance of him wearing a mask and being intimate, depending on the situation. I personally HC that Simon wears a surgical mask when off duty, just because he’s so used to having his face covered to some extent that he feels more comfortable with one on. (Plus that and because of the 09 lore I feel like he’d have some facial scarring, and he’d rather not be bothered about it when he’s just trying to pick something up from the shops.)

For sure he’d keep it on if he was having a one night stand (which honestly, depending on how you characterize him, there’s a decent chance he doesn’t even bother with casual sort of things, but I also fw how messy those relationships can get, so, y’know, write your vision, lmao), and early on in a relationship. Which, again, can lead to an important milestone when he finally takes it off— picture Simon getting so caught up in the moment that he’s not even fully aware of himself tugging down his mask to kiss his partner, because he needs to so bad it feels like he can’t breathe.

I just—

… Enjoy when Ghost’s mask is used to support the narrative; a totally normal amount.

… Yeah.

Basically, imo, he’s built for slow burns.

Feel free to chime in with your own HCs, I love just seeing how different people interpret the same character, and what little quirks they give them, tbh.

(Also do y’all fw these like, tangent posts, or prefer when I post more structured fic-esc writing? I’m just curious lmao.)

As always feel free to send me asks or writing requests. :>

✨My Masterlist✨

[superstitious-wolf]

Ghost but make him Punisher

[oldrainfall]

Ghost's Section

Main post & Soap, Price, and Gaz’s parts: here

Ghost — Acts of service, quality time, words of affirmation (regular and a sort of modified version, I’ll explain later), and receiving gifts.

Ghost — Acts of service. Like I said, every one of the boys would like acts of service, but it’d mean the most to Simon— especially if you’re working off of his backstory from the comics.

Simon is a man who doesn’t trust anyone. He’s learned time and time again that the people closest to him could and would hurt him, or be used to hurt him. How someone presents themselves means nothing to him, and what they say to him means even less. In his experience people are rarely true to their word. As long as they’re competent he doesn’t care. He doesn’t let himself get attached.

Getting him to the point where he would realistically be comfortable enough to show affection outwardly in any capacity is going to be like pulling teeth.

What’s good to keep in mind is that Simon values consistency. Above all else, in a new relationship, he is waiting for the other shoe to drop— even if the other person has been around for a while, he never really gets over that. So the best way to handle that is just for it to never happen. For him to ever start being even in the ballpark of ‘affectionate,’ someone else is going to have to make the first move. (Or at least motivate him to try, he’d never go out looking for a deeper connection of his own volition otherwise.)

Price does this naturally, he’s long since gotten into the habit of taking care of his men. It’s his job to have a good sense of what’s going on with them, and how they’re holding up at all times. So, if after a rough mission, or around the colder months he notices Simon is starting to squirrel himself away, he’s going to bloody well do something about it; he’ll take it upon himself to bring Simon food from the mess if he notices he hasn’t been going as much as he should. The first few times Simon’s skeptical, of course, but eventually he figures it’s not in Price’s best interest to mess with his food, and tries it— he’ll at least have a few bites of anything Price brings him, even if he doesn’t like it, or if he does, he’ll eat the whole lot of it. Price notices what does and doesn’t get eaten, and takes care to bring something his lieutenant will actually finish. God knows the man needs it. Simon starts returning the favour on days Price is too buried under paperwork to pull away from it.

If he notices something’s up with Simon’s gear (broken, scuffed, bent, gotten so coated in blood it won’t ever come out), he’ll put in to have it replaced without being asked. Like hell is he sending any of his men out with faulty gear.

Initially Gaz does little acts of service to get on Simon’s good side— he’s not too sure what to think of his lieutenant, the man is very cold and closed off, giving little to nil away. It’s not that they have to be buddy buddy, but it’s common sense that a team that likes each other functions far more smoothly than one that doesn’t. So he starts simple, he figures out how Simon takes his tea (after a couple times watching him prepare it, he manages to memorize it) and the next time Gaz makes himself a cup, he makes some for Simon too. Again, like with Price, Simon is skeptical, and probably won’t drink it the first few times. Not that that deters Gaz— if anything it spurs him on. He’s a bit of a competitive bloke, and now it’s a matter of principle; he will get on Simon’s good side, damn it.

The third time, Gaz makes sure that Simon sees him make it, keeps his movements steady and measured, makes sure Simon can see his hands at all time while he does, makes once for Price as well, and when he brings it over, Simon simply accepts it with a nod, and watches as Price accepts his own cup barely managing a thanks before he starts drinking it, not even looking up from the report he was working on. After another moment or two, Simon pulls his balaclava over his nose, and starts to sip from it cautiously, but he does drink it.

From there, Gaz moves on to doing little things, like keeping extra smokes on him even while out on the field for Simon to bum one— and making sure he always has a working lighter. He also personally ensures that Simon’s knife oil ‘mysteriously’ never gets too low without another to replace it. He never says anything about it, just does it without a word.

It must be working well enough, he figures, when he goes into the armoury after training one day to clean his guns before the next op — passing Simon in the hallway on his way in without much thought — and his weapons are strangely already ready to go.

Soap helps Simon make his masks. With their work, Simon goes through a lot of them. He does his best to fix them when he can, but that’s not always possible. That, plus the fact Simon always likes to have extra, just in case, means he spends more time than he probably should making them.

Often this means on nights when he’s having trouble sleeping, and he’s already done as much paperwork as he can stomach, he finds himself hunched over in his bunk, working under the shitty glow of the lamp on his nightstand, and repeatedly jabbing himself with the little needle he managed to swipe from medical as he sews the skull plate onto a plain balaclava.

Soap doesn’t get involved until a mission where Simon breaks his arm.

He had already been short on masks beforehand, but after how roughed up he had gotten, he was down to his plain, skull print balaclava. Even with a broken arm, Simon wouldn’t ask for help, instead trying his best (and failing) to do everything one handed. By the time he gets a quarter of one done, with ample aid of alternating between cursing it out, and his own arm, Soap finds him; popping in after hearing him carrying on from the hallway as he was walking back to his own quarters. After ample ribbing, Soap invites himself in, and sits down next to Simon, taking the incorrectly threaded needle away from Simon before he can cause further damage, and finishing it with some huffed orders from Simon over his shoulder while he worked. After that Soap kept coming back to help him make more until his arm healed, and occasionally made more for him even after the fact. He even started keeping a spare mask in with his own gear, just in case.

Words of Affirmation. Hearing he's good at what he does is nothing new to Ghost, it's something that doesn't carry much weight for him anymore, he knows he's good, he doesn't need the external confirmation to affirm that. What sticks with him the most isn't praise for what he does in the field, as Ghost, but off of it, as Simon; complements about the way he makes tea, whispered genuine assurances in between slow kisses (especially when paired with gentle touches to his scars, he's so used to be handled/treated roughly that anyone being soft with him, when he ebbs past the instinctive urge to be suspicious, makes his heart twist and ache in a way that he's hesitant to get to stop), all that good stuff.

What also sticks with him is when someone indulges him, say, going along with his shite jokes, teases him back, banters with him— he's used to people shying away from him, or outright absolutely shitting bricks just because they're in his presence.

This is what I mean by a sort of modified version of words of affirmation, just carrying on with Simon, basically, otherwise known as turning towards a bid for affection. Super cool behaviour, btw, totally recommend looking into it if you're interested at all by human social behaviours (which, if you've gotten far enough into this to read this, I'm just going to take a wild guess that you do, there's a short article about it here if you want just a working understanding of it).

Receiving Gifts. Honestly, Ghost would accept pretty much anything anyone gives him, as long as he cares about them. Once Soap handed him a small pebble as a (sort-of-not-really) joke, and told him with a straight face that he was giving it to him because the rock reminded him of Simon. There was a sort of bemused flicker in Simon's eyes, but he took it with a wordless nod. It now lives in his TAC vest, and he takes it on every mission he goes on (when he can't sleep either on base or during an op, he'll take it out and smooth his thumb over it). One time he thought he lost it, and felt a sense of dread pressing down on his sternum until he found it again (it had fallen to the floor when he was changing out of his gear, he now keeps it in its own pocket that can velcro shut).

The fact that anyone would go out of their way to get him something — just because it reminds them of him, or because they genuinely think he'd like it — always catches him off guard, probably always will. He savours it all the same, even if doesn't exactly look like it when he's first gifted it; Simon may not be the kind of man to go out of his way to buy or get himself anything, but there's no chance in hell he gets rid of anything someone gets him, it's either getting added to his gear, or being kept safely tucked away, hidden in a secure location within his quarters that only he's aware of.