Pine-ing For You | Kyle "Gaz" Garrick

Chapter 6 - We Have Great Chemis-Tree

Kyle really ups the ante while you're fearing the consequences of everything, but he shows you that it's going to be okay. A little more than okay. A lot more than okay. Have you always felt like that when he looks at you?

There's a collective breath of relief when you walk back out of your room with Kyle by your side. The two of you are still joking and laughing, and you can see the way your cousin's shoulders sag in delight. It warms your heart to think she was so worried of messing up your relationship, no matter fake it may be.

Kyle gives you a smile when the both of you aren't questioned or accused of anything. In fact, it seems to have been totally glossed over now that your grandparents were arguing over where their honeymoon was, either at the wedding venue or in the car when they were leaving. Your younger cousins had all fled by then to go grab some food for lunch.

"People get over it once they have something more entertaining to focus on," Kyle whispers in your ear. You have to admit that you were probably worried a little too much. However, it seems it's not over yet when your teen cousin waltzes over to you with a nosy look on her face. She has impeccable timing because Kyle just stepped away to go grab some plates for you and him.

"Sooo," she drags out. You give her an amused look and pat her on the shoulder. For a minute, you forget your own strength and she lets out a quiet 'oof' and stumbles forward

"Sooo, what?" you ask her with an arched eyebrow. You know she's stuck on the slipup between you and Kyle. She wants to dig deeper with that, likely just curious but also your cousin's a big influence on her.

"You know..." she tries with you. But you've been through tougher interrogations than her, from both ends.

"I don't, kiddo. You know you can't get any info from me," you laugh at her frown and ruffle her hair.

"Come on," she drags out. "There's gotta be something you can tell me. This is my only source of entertainment this holiday. It's better than what's on those stupid shows on Netflix or whatever." Ha, Kyle says it's just like the movies too. Bet that's what prepared him for living it now. "And for a big, bad soldier, you ran away like a wuss."

Damn, she got you there. "Hey, relationships are hard. Especially when you work in my field. Relationships, especially romantic, are a luxury since your time with people are short. I just... don't know how to do it quite right."

"Yeah but he makes it look easy." That's another one of your family members who's fallen for Kyle's well-worn disguise of being your boyfriend. And it helps fuel your overthinking and how you're supposed to be processing your feelings about him. He really is the perfect catch, though. The way he looks at you is convincing even to yourself; makes you believe it on your own. You wonder why the first thought he had was to offer himself to be your fake boyfriend. Honestly, just a friend would have been fine too. But you were too stressed to care and he was all too eager to help you out. You don't think he wanted to live out his in real life movie fantasy either.

You think back on all the times you could have seen this coming. Either in your down time or even on mission, he has always managed to keep an eye out for you. Always includes you in conversation and ropes you in if he hasn't heard from you in a while. You were normally quiet on comms, opting to listen to the likes of your superiors and focus on the task at hand. Plus you didn't want to clutter it too much whenever Soap was too excited about demolitions and making them go 'ka-fucking-boom, baby'. You'd assumed he did it to check in without having to wait for Price asking for a sitrep. Often he had something sarcastic to go along with it to keep you entertained in the quiet.

There were times in the middle of the action when Kyle had been your savior and you his, so it was nothing too special. And you two made the perfect team going in. The only notable instance in the field that you could think of was when you'd been able to cover for Kyle when he was taking down a couple hostiles. You were a couple floors down and taking care of anyone who tried to flank him on the way. When you were nearly there, you took down an enemy who nearly took him down. He turned around with a grin on his face as if he knew you'd do that all along. "I swear I'm going to marry you someday for that save. In the meantime, take this ring." He'd tossed you the grenade pin that was left over from the one he'd just thrown into the next room.