Friends Don't Look At Friends That Way

Part Seven.

"Had I known this is what Price meant by ground recon, I would have offered to do literally anything else." You grumble angrily, eyes glued to the rocky terrain beneath your feet as you carefully map out your next steps. You have already busted your ass twice on some sharp stones that will have your tailbone bruised by morning.

Ghost, who is stopped up ahead to wait for you, sighs dramatically at the darkening sky. Human Tarzan over there has easily picked his way up the side of the mountain you're scaling and has no patience for your lack of coordination. I am going to strangle Price.

For whatever reason, he determined you and Ghost were the optimum pair to scope the extensive, mountainous hills surrounding the cartel-owned compound. Your main objective is to find ideal locations along the ridges that will allow the team to keep eyes on you during the party in a few days. The spots need to be clear enough that a sniper scope can track your movements seamlessly, but it requires hiking to the very top to get better visuals.

The remaining members of the 141 were most likely sitting in a lush office space somewhere, cleaning up the loose ends of the plan and creating an exfil team while you and Ghost were doing all the unpleasant work.

"You're cranky when you're going through Soap withdrawal." He calls to you, using a nearby tree to lean against as he watches your struggle to get a proper foothold in the brush. If looks could kill, then the one you give him as a retort would surely have him six feet under.

He isn't wrong. Since you agreed to this mission, Soap has been actively avoiding you, putting you in a rather foul mood. You tried to talk to him in the days leading up to the team's departure, but he would refuse to see you or would ignore your presence entirely. It made you want to both cry and violently punch him in the face, which you promised yourself you would be doing the second you got the stubborn asshole alone.

As you finally reach the higher ground Ghost is waiting on, your foot loses its grip in a patch of mud and nearly sends you flying back down the hillside. In a flash of movement, Ghost's oversized hand laces around your bicep and hauls you against his chest, saving your life.

"You're killing me, (Y/N)." He fusses, using his strength to easily set you up upright in front of him. "I would rather MacTavish not beat me to a bloody pulp for letting you crack open your skull. So please, for my sake, watch where you're going."

"Only because you asked so nicely." You snark back, which is short-lived when you immediately trip on a snaking tree root. You feel Ghost tightly grip the backside of your tactical vest to keep you from falling on your face, and in doing so, the rough fabric of his gloves grazes the sensitive skin on the back of your neck. It sends a shiver down the length of your spine, making you immediately step away once you gain your balance.

"At this pace, we will need to make camp." He says with an assessing look at the remaining climb. "I can barely keep you alive during the day. No way in bloody hell am I letting   you do this in the dark."

You don't bother to disagree with him, plopping down on a flat section of the hill with a relieved groan. He follows suit and slides off the pack you forced him to carry, containing your sleeping bags and other necessities. He sets into motion of unloading what you need, tossing you your sleeping bag and an MRE while he tears into one himself.

"He's mad at me, isn't he?" You ask quietly. Ghost pauses for a second, not saying anything before he returns to unpacking his food. "He won't even look at me."

"I don't know that mad is the right word." Ghost finally replies, not meeting your eyes. "I think he is rightfully scared. We all are. Some of us are just better at hiding it." He lifts his dark gaze to yours, and the sight of his brown eyes being rife with emotion causes your breath to hitch. The raw worry that lies there so blatantly sends ripples of guilt through you. This immovable force that is more often than not a massive pain in your ass is scared for you?