part 5 of 141 with a reader who just doesn’t want to be there
gender neutral!reader, genz!reader, reader is like 20-24, reader is a corporal, platonic
part 1 , part 2 , part 3 , part 4
cw : human trafficking , smoking , non sexual nudity (you change in front of the team)
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it was 00:07 when you stepped outside to smoke. deciding to give up on sleeping for now and just enjoy the sounds of crickets and the occasional croak of a frog. it’s been a week since you and Gaz got back from your impromptu vacation and you hadn’t been sleeping well. the team immediately moved bases after you two got back , making it even harder relax.
you were lighting your second cigarette when someone stepped outside , halting you. you couldn’t see who it was at first because you were sitting on the left side of door , leaning against the step , but once the door closed , you came face to face with Ghost. turning forward again , you flick your lighter open , dragging your thumb across the flint wheel and letting the fire light the tip of your cigarette. you don’t notice how he startles gently at your presence , too focused on making sure the cigarette was burning evenly.
to your surprise , Ghost takes a seat next to you , on your right. he pulls out his own pack of cigarettes , takes one , and pulls his mask up to place it between his lips. you pull your eyes away from him as he lifts his mask , giving him the semblance of privacy. he pulls his own lighter out of his pack , dragging his thumb across the flint wheel multiple times and sighing in annoyance when it doesn’t light. “can i borrow yer lighter ?” he sounds exasperated. without turning to look at him you hand over your lighter. a few seconds later and it’s back into your pocket.
you both sit there in silence for a few moments , letting the nature do the talking. it reminds you of home , of when you were young and used to run around in search of frogs or slugs. of when you and your mother used to sit and watch the birds , feeding them and watching them teach their young with bright smiles on both of your faces. of your grandfather taking you hunting , celebrating with you when you took down your first buck with a perfect shot.
you’re interrupted from your thoughts by Ghost speaking , “i like yer lighter , where’d ya get it ?” it’s not that cool of a lighter , being a pretty red color with no special design , so you feel like he may just be trying to start conversation. “it’s a zippo , you can get em at like , any smoke shop. i have a bunch more if you want one.” you turn your head slightly as you speak , looking at his eyes for a moment before turning away. Ghost shakes his head softly , muttering a small ‘nah’ before silence blankets the space again.
it’s comfortable as you both continue to smoke , the only sound filling the silence being the nature surrounding you and the breathing from both of you. the moment is shattered as the door opens again , this time revealing Price. you and Ghost don’t say anything as Price leans against the now closed door , just watching as he closes his eyes and relaxes.
Ghost decided to speak up after a minute or two , “hey cap’n.” the reaction is immediate. Price whips his head around , caught off guard. “christ , Ghost ! make some noise next time ! you’re like a bloody cat !” you have to stifle a laugh at that , taking a long drag of your cigarette. Price shakes his head while taking a seat on the steps , holding his hand out. you stare in confusion but Ghost apparently understands what he wants , handing Price his pack. Price takes a single cigarette , placing it between his lips. before he can grab the lighter in Ghosts’ pack , you hand Price your lighter. you can see him furrow his eyebrows in confusion as he takes it , lighting his cigarette and handing it back.
you all sit in silence for the next few minutes , puffing away on the sticks of cancer.
Price is the first to break the silence , turning to you as he speaks. “how’ve ya been , kid ? you settling in good ?” now that’s a question , how have you been ? you haven’t been able to sleep well. every time you finally fall asleep , you’re awoken by nightmares you don’t remember , sweat clinging to your skin. you’re tired most days , wishing you could sleep for just an hour longer.
but you don’t tell him that , why would you ? you just nod your head and hum out a response “i’m good , settled in easily.” he just nods back and returns to looking forward.
your cigarette has almost burned all the way so you decide to put it out , stubbing the cancer stick on the side of your boot sole. standing up and hopping up onto the step as you take your pack out and put the ashed cigarette in the box , not wanting to just throw it out in the wilderness. putting the pack away as you open the door , you see the other two stubbing their cigarettes as well.
you wait for them , holding the door open. they both nod in thanks as they pass you.
you were about to walk away when Price’s phone starts ringing , glancing at him for a moment to see him motioning for you to stay.
you stop , confused.
furrowing your eyebrows , you watch as he answers the call , greeting the caller. “Captain John Price. what do you need ?” you obviously can’t hear the callers response. rocking on your feet slightly , you watch as Price’s brows furrow in.. an emotion you can’t discern.
you honestly debate walking away and dealing with the consequences later as the call drags on , seemingly going on forever. just as you shift your weight to start walking away , the call ends. Price puts his phone down and brings a hand up , pinching his nose bridge. you can hear him mutter curses under his breath , an annoyed look on his face. he lets his hand fall and puts his phone back into his pocket before speaking , addressing Ghost and you. “go get packed up , we have to be in the States by twenty-two hundred (2200) hours” he pauses for a moment before continuing, “Ghost , i want to talk with you , and then i want you to wake Garrick and Soap. Kid , go pack up. after , i want you to meet me in building 3 , on floor 2 , room 3240. if you get there early , just wait.” you nod sharply , turning and walking away.
you walk quickly , once out of sight breakking into a sprint. on the way to your room you whip out your phone and quickly go to google.
‘how long is a flight from Romania to America?’
11-16 hours , depends on layovers and such. you don’t know if you’re going to be flying in civies so just to be safe , you assume you will be. and if your math is correct , then you have 6 hours of spare time that will be quickly swallowed up by packing and driving. giving you maybe 3 hours of time to waste. it makes you slow down slightly , you’re still running but not as quick anymore.
you get to your room quickly , pulling out a duffel bag and your military backpack.
you don’t care for folding any of your normal clothes properly , just folding them up randomly and shoving them inside the duffle bag haphazardly. you’re more carful with your uniforms , folding them properly and placing them inside the backpack. you continue to ransack your room , grabbing everything that’s yours. you fill your backpack with everything you want to take as carry-on , making sure to put a small throw blanket and neck pillow in there as well.
it takes you almost 50 minutes to pack everything and to make sure it would all fit properly. getting your shoes in the bag and making sure they fit was the hardest part , forcing you to play an unwilling game of Tetris. before making your way to the meeting room , you make sure you grabbed everything , double checking that you aren’t leaving a charger.
pulling the backpack on and pulling the duffle bag over your shoulder , you walk out of the room , leaving the door open behind you. pulling your phone out , you sigh as you see the time , 01:43. you wouldn’t say you take your time walking to building 3 but you definitely don’t rush. you make it in a few minutes , and quickly walk up the stairs to get to floor 3.
taking a look at the walls , you see a clipboard with a few pieces of laminated paper. the first is all of the meeting rooms on the floor and a time table , a map of the floor plan is on the second page , and on the last page is a set of rules for taking a time slot. examining the map , you find room 3240 and take a few moments to memorize the path you want to take.
it doesn’t take long to get there , opening the door and finding it completely empty. you flip the lights on and walk over to the table in the center of the room. after placing your duffle bag on the floor next to one of the chairs and putting your backpack on the chair , you stretch your shoulders. you decide against putting the your brace on , assuming the soreness and discomfort will fade.
taking a seat to the left of your bags , you wait for Price to show up.
you were going to wait in silence but after two minutes of just listening to your own breathing , you can’t take it anymore. pulling your phone out and starting to scroll social media.
more time passes before you see another person , surprisingly not being Price. Gaz walks into the room , taking a glance at you and giving you a nod in greeting. you nod back as he goes to sit , focus going back to your muted phone after. you expect to sit in silence with him but he speaks up , tilting his beanie covered head to the side. “how’s ya thumb ?” you chuckle softly at the unexpected question , a small smile appearing on your face. “fine. i’ve done it a lot , so it doesn’t really hurt.” he nods with soft smile , pulling his own phone out.
a minute later , the rest of the team shows up , piling into the room. Ghost settles in the chair on the right side of you , Soap settling in front of him. you notice immediately that they all don’t have their bags , confusing you. Price goes to stand in the front of the room , at the head of the table. “okay ! we’ll be in the States tomorrow afternoon , we’re flying with civilians- ,” Soap and Gaz both groan lowly , annoyed. “i know , i know , deal with it. we’ll be in California , meeting with Mexican Special Forces ,” they all seem to perk up at that. “we’ll have more information on what we’re going to be doing once we get there. all we know is that people are being trafficked across the borders.” he looks around you all , gauging your reaction in particular. “alright ! let’s go , we’ve got a flight to catch.”
you all get up , Ghost making it to the door first and holding it open for you all. you’re the last out , muting a small ‘sorry’ to Ghost as you pass him. you barely notice it , but he narrows his eyes , mask moving in a way to indicate his eyebrows are furrowed in confusion.
you all walk down the stairs , Soap in the front of everyone and Ghost behind you all. once at the bottom , you realize why Soap , Ghost , and Price didn’t have their bags with them. they left them all at the bottom of the stairs , not wanting to lug everything up just to bring it all back down.
the walk to the front office is silent but not awkward , surprisingly.
Price walks up to the half asleep person at the desk , knocking lightly on it. he requests to get someone to drive you all to the airport and they oblige , calling a Private to drive.
the Private is obviously tired but doesn’t complain , telling you all to follow them as they grab a pair of keys and make their way out of the building.
the drive to the airport is awkward but not uncomfortable , unsurprisingly. it takes half an hour to get there , giving you all 30 minutes to get to your gate and check a bag or two.
you get to bypass TSA , getting caught by Border Protection for a moment and having to show all of your ID’s and passports to be let go. it’s annoying but you can’t dwell on it , trying to make it to the gate quick enough to have time to spare to get snacks.
unfortunately , you don’t have time to get any snacks because as soon as you approach the gate , they call for active duty members to board. you all get on , shuffling into the back of the plane. you put your duffle bag in the overhead area , taking your backpack off and putting it on the floor in front of you once you’ve sat down. you’ve got the window seat with Ghost in the seat on your left , Gaz being on his other side. Soap and Price are across the aisle , Price taking the window seat as well. you didn’t realize it , or well , consciously realize it , but Ghost changed his mask , having a typical medical face mask on now. 
you’re quick to get your blanket and neck pillow out , getting comfortable. you buckle the seat belt overtop of the blanket , securing it in place. you settle in , getting as comfortable as the small seat will let you. suddenly , you remember you brought an eye mask , pulling it out and placing it over your face.
you can hear the shuffling of the other passengers getting on , placing their bags in the overhead compartment. luckily , you didn’t have anyone sitting behind you , meaning you don’t have to worry about anyone kicking your seat or anything.
it takes seemingly forever for everybody to board. you were almost asleep when a flight attendant comes onto the speaker overhead , startling you out of your light sleep. you quickly go back to trying to sleep , resting your head back.
you expect the flight to be relatively silent and you’re correct , for the most part. once the plane started moving , Ghost decided to speak up , a chuckle in his voice. “you seriously want to play tic-tac-toe ?” you can hear the offended noise Gaz makes in reply , going to defend his honor. you try and tune them out but find it difficult , the banter between the two making it impossible.
you pull the eye mask up , letting it rest on your forehead. glancing down the aisle as you lean forward to grab a pair of headphones , you see Price in the same position as you , except he didn’t have an eye mask. which you were going to fix.
grabbing the spare eye mask you had in your bag , you hand it over to Gaz , requesting he hands it to Price. he chuckles lowly as he takes the mask , hand it off to Soap so he can give it to it’s intended owner.
Price receives the mask with a look of amusement , glancing down the aisle at you when you speak up. “i had an extra. and look ! we’re twinning now !” he accepts the mask with a smile , chuckling.
the rest of the flight is uneventful. for you. you were either listening to music or napping the whole flight. Price , on the other hand , had to wrangle the rest of the team like a group of toddlers , begging them to be silent and not play a three-way game of tic-tac-toe. he failed but it was worth a shot.
you were woken up by your blanket being shifted , waiting for a few seconds to see if it was deliberate.
it happens again , this time with an added light brush against your shoulder. raising both hands to remove your headphones and eye mask. looking to the left , you see the rest of the team standing , getting ready to leave the plane. unbuckling , you fold up your blanket quickly , storing it in your bag. your neck pillow and eye mask go next , being placed gently inside your bag. you decide to keep your headphones around your neck.
standing up and swinging your backpack on , you mutter a small ‘thank you’ to Ghost , assuming he woke you up. he doesn’t respond , doesn’t even acknowledge your thanks.
you brush that off , following the rest of the team off the plane after grabbing your bag from the overhead compartment.
you follow them to the baggage claim , waiting patiently as the bags start falling. Price and Soap finally see their bags , grabbing their suitcases and heading towards the exit.
catching up to Price , you ask a question that’s been on your mind , “where are we being picked up ?” Price pauses for a second , pulling his phone out and typing frantically. the rest of the team pauses , staring confused at Price. staring at him in astonishment for a few seconds before whipping your head around to the rest of the team. “do you guys know where we’re being picked up !?” they all shake their heads , confused.
Ghost looks over to Price , seeing him now on a phone call. he walks over , tapping him and raising an eyebrow in question. Price just hold up a finger , nodding a few more times. “alright… okay.. thank you.” he hangs up , letting out a deep sigh before addressing you all. “okay ! we have to head to the parking garage , they’re at the top.” you all nod , following Price as he wanders and tries to find the exit.
it takes way too long to find the garage.
30 minutes later , and you’re finally in the elevator in the parking garage , rising to the top floor.
once out of the elevator , you see a single car.
“ya think that’s them ?” slowly , you turn your head to Soap and stare. he stares back , a cheeky smile on his face. walking away and towards the car , you hear him cackling , making an amused smile appear on your face.
you all make it to the car fairly quickly , throwing everything in the trunk. opening the back door , you realize that everyone won’t fit unless people pile up.
sliding in quickly , you settle into the middle seat , muttering a small greeting to the two men in the front and passenger seat. Gaz is the next to realize the problem , whispering a small ‘fuck’ when he sees you in the middle.
the rest of the team is annoyed. you’re happy.
Ghost has Price on his lap , arms wrapped lightly around his waist. Price has his arms crossed , thoroughly annoyed. Gaz and Soap aren’t in a better position , Gaz sitting on Soaps lap. you can’t look at any of them without giggling , getting a kick out of seeing a fully grown man sitting in another fully grown man’s lap. 
after 30 minutes , Price speaks up , introducing the two in the front seats. pointing to the man in the passenger seat , “Colonel Alejandro Vargas. and-” pointing to the man in the driver seat , “-Sergeant Major Rodolfo ‘Rudy’ Parra.” you nod sharply , murmuring. “sirs.” they both side eye each other hearing that , not expecting the professionalism. Price then points to you , introducing you to the men. “Corporal Y/N L/N.”
you all make it to the new base relatively quickly , only taking an hour and a half.
getting out last , you make your way to the trunk , only to be stopped by the Colonel. “don’t worry about that , we’ll have someone bring your stuff to your barracks.” you nod hesitantly.
following after the team , you’re brought into a meeting room , surprisingly empty. you all sit down around the table , Colonel Vargas standing at the head. you focus your attention on him , not noticing that Ghost had changed his mask to a plain black balaclava. “alright ! you each have a file in front of you , read it.” you want to laugh at the blunt tone , but hold back , reaching forward to grab the file.
you flip it open , the first couple pages being everyone’s personal file , not containing many redactions. you skip them all , not particularly caring for their private information.
after reading everything , you feel disgusted , forcing you to take a moment to breathe before putting the file down. you were the first to finish reading , now just silently waiting. taking a look around , you notice the board behind the Colonel , being filled with pictures and random maps. you study the board , eyes catching on someone who looked familiar.
the Colonel speaks up after seeing all the files back on the table , “alright-!” he claps sharply , demanding attention. “-i’ll have Rudy show you to your barracks. sleep , and we’ll pick this up tomorrow morning.” you stand after seeing the rest of the team rise , following Rudy.
he leads you all to your barracks. a single room with three bunk beds pushed against the left wall. the right wall has three fairly big wardrobes , six drawers on each. you see all of your bags in the middle of the room , being placed randomly.
giving Rudy an appreciative nod as you pass him while entering , you beeline for the bags. grabbing both of yours , you bring them over to one of the wardrobes. “kid , what bed do you want ?” looking over to Price , you just shrug. “i don’t care.” he nods at your unhelpful answer , addressing the rest of the team. “Soap , top or bottom ?”
“sir ! that is a very personal question-!”
“MacTavish !” he sounds exasperated. 
you break into giggles , trying to stifle them as you search for some night clothes.
they get the bed situation dealt with , Ghost and Gaz on one bunk bed , and Soap and you on the other. Price obviously gets his own bunk bed. you and Ghost both take the bottom bunks respectively.
finding your clothes , you pull your shirt off swiftly , confused by the shocked gasps behind you. tossing a glance over your shoulder , you see them all with their hands covering their eyes , looking away.
you’re pulling the new shirt on as Price speaks , “christ , kid ! a warning next time !” you’re even more confused. this is the military , they 100 percent had to change in front of other before , you don’t understand why they’re being like this. taking off your shoes as you question him “what.. are you not- have you never-” you take a moment to collect your thoughts before speaking again. “has no one ever changed in front of you ?” pulling down your pants and underwear , you quickly replaced your underwear. his gasp sounds almost offended , “shut it and finish changing , Corporal !” he sounds exasperated.
you’re heart jumps.
right. this is your Captain.
you go on autopilot , pulling on your sweatpants and quickly pulling your socks off.
you stuff your clothes in your bag , mumbling a quiet ‘done.’ as you walk past them and to your bunk. laying down , you get comfortable , pulling the blanket over you and clasping your hands over your stomach. you slowly fall into a dreamless sleep , oblivious to the concerned glances the team sends you.
you awake abruptly , taking a moment to examine your surroundings.
your breathing calms as you see the team asleep.
swinging your legs over the bed , you stand quietly. tip-toeing over to your bags , you rummaging around as silent as you can , finding your pack of cigarettes and your lighter. turning around , you’re startled as you find Ghost standing behind you. you make an embarrassing sound , a mixture between a squeak and a yelp. covering your mouth , “what the fuck ! you scared the shit outta me !” you’re whisper yelling , glancing at the rest of the team , worried they’d wake up.
“you goin’ ta smoke ?”
you nod.
“can i come ?”
you nod again , this time more hesitantly.
you both pull your boots on , not bothering with socks.
you take one last glance at the team before following Ghost as he leads you outside.
you’re on the roof , overlooking the whole base. you sit with Ghost , leaning against the wall guarding the edge of the roof. pulling out your pack , you take out two cigarettes and hand one to Ghost. you avert your eyes as he lifts his mask , placing the cigarette between his lips. taking out your red lighter , you hand it to Ghost first , lighting your cigarette after he hands it back.
you sit in silence for a few minutes , just enjoying the fresh air.
“why don’t you look at me ? when i don’t have my mask on.”
you almost whip your head towards him , aborting at the last minute. you shrug , not having an answer to the sudden question.
he lets the words sit , waiting for your answer.
you eventually give it up , finding the words to articulate it perfectly.
“i guess i wanna respect your privacy. i mean , you wear the mask for a reason obviously , and i want to respect that.” you shrug again as you speak , not knowing if he would take your answer.
he’s silent for a few moments before seemingly deciding something. he grabs his mask from the top , pulling it off swiftly. you whip your head to the other side , “sir-!” he laughs. genuinely laughs at you and your reaction. “aw c’mon , kid. you think i’m ugly ?” he’s very obviously teasing you now.
“fuck off !”
all he does is laugh again , placing his hand on your head and lightly shaking you. you swat his hand away , turning towards him with a playful glare.
you take in his looks , quickly cataloging everything. his hair is light , almost a white blonde color , his eyelashes and eyebrows being the same color. you see the scars , some more severe than others. it looks like someone tried to cut open the edges of his mouth , unsuccessfully. only the left side of his mouth is wider , but not by much , the scaring still going almost to his ears on both sides. you see the scar that goes cleanly through his right eyebrow , the scar tissue causing only some of the eyebrow to grow back. his crooked and hooked nose. the part of his left ear lobe missing. the few moles that speckle his face , making a constellation , unlike any you’ve ever seen.
he’s beautiful , respectfully.
rolling your eyes , you turn away , taking a drag from your cigarette. “you’re full of yourself.” reasonably so. he just laughs again , shaking his head lightly.
you both finish your cigarettes relatively quickly , stubbing them out.
you both make it back to the barracks silently , making sure not to wake the team as you enter. you take your boots off quickly , stashing your cigarettes away and going back to your bed. you flop down softly , getting comfortable and falling back into a dreamless sleep.
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i love unreliable narrators ^-^
this took so long because i had no idea what to write because i don’t have a ‘big bad’ for them to fight other than Markov
okay if you don’t wanna hear me yap about my thoughts on this chapter , please skip this , it’s just gonna be me explaining why reader is acting the way they are and my thought process behind it
so i feel like people may question the whole getting changed in front of the team with no regard for their own privacy and the reason i did this is because in basic training , you share barracks with like 20 other people , you have no privacy and any privacy you do have isn’t real. reader does understand that in non military settings , you don’t just get changed in front of people , but in military settings , they don’t see the problem , it was normalized for them during basic and they trust the team not to be weird.
i don’t know if i really like how Ghost reveals his face to reader , i don’t know if it seems realistic but i wanted to show reader respecting his privacy and the fact he doesn’t show his face willingly , like with them looking away while smoking or not staring at him on the plane , those times he really didn’t have a choice but to show parts of his face , and yeah he can not smoke with reader but plot yknow
okay so the military is like really fucked , the way they train soldiers is borderline torture , they ‘break’ the persons minds just to rebuild it to be submissive to those above them and i wanted to show that a bit and how that has affected reader and how their relationships with higher ups will be like / have been like.
they automatically shut down once hearing their rank , an immediate reminder that they are inherently below Price and the rest of the team. now Price DID NOT mean it like that , he was just joking in the way he would with other members of the team but because reader is still so new , they don’t know and understand the dynamics and the power dynamics especially.
i also really want to explore the power dynamics of the team in this fic , i think it would be fun :3
