Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Soap was the one to see him in action first. All Ghost heard in the moment was the panicked cursing of the Scot, fear curling in his belly even as his aim remained perfectly steady and true. He didn't want to hear Soap die over coms, that punishment would be worse than any torture the enemy could put him through.

But then there was a crash, and Ghost could hear Soap's crazed, relieved laughter ring through the line.

"Johnny, how copy?"

"All good here, Lt. Some giant came through, saved my ass."

"Good. Target's on the move, get after him."

"Yes, sir."

And that was that.

~~~

Until they got to the rendezvous, and Ghost scanned over all the troops and specialist operators until he found Soap. He was talking to one of the KorTac specialists that Price had nabbed for the mission for some extra hands – and a potential new recruit for the taskforce.

The guy was massive, at least a full six inches taller than Ghost himself even though his slouch made him seem shorter than he was. A sniper hood covered his head and neck entirely but for the dark eyes that stared out of the holes in the hood. He couldn't tell what color they were behind the shadow of the fabric, the red streaks beneath the eye hole cutouts looking like bloody tear stains.

An intimidating giant, all in all.

Ghost settled in next to Soap, surreptitiously checking him over for injuries.

"Hey there Lt, ready to get back to base?" Johnny gave him a grin, breaking the conversation for a moment to address him.

Feeling like he was running on fumes and the last of the adrenaline that came with hearing his partner almost die, he simply grunted with a short nod. Soap didn't push – he knew that he'd be getting the full force of clingy Simon once they were safely back in the privacy of the quarters that they nearly shared at this point. Or at least, as clingy as he got.

"This is the guy that saved my ass back there," the sergeant continued despite the near non-response. "König, meet Lieutenant Riley, or Ghost."

Ghost made eye contact with the giant for barely half a second before the man's eyes skittered to the side, nervous.

Still, he nodded and spoke with a voice laced with a fairly heavy German accent. "Lieutenant, it is good to meet you."

He resisted the urge to simply nod in response – it was easier to simply not speak after missions like this. Instead he extended a hand towards the operator to shake. "Thanks. For saving him."

The giant glanced to his hand, to his eyes, and away once more as he gave Ghost's hand a soft dip, his long fingers nearly dwarfing the Brit's. "Ja, of course sir. I was just lucky to be there."

This time he did simply give a blank grunt of vague affirmation, dropping the man's hand and letting Soap take over the conversation. He didn't have the energy to do anything more than listen, and Johnny knew that – surprisingly, it seemed that König did too, as he didn't try to rope the Brit into the conversation.

Their exfil finally arrived and Ghost sat on guard for the drive back, intent on watching for threats.

He would only relax once they got back to base.

~~~

When they did get back to base, it was a relief even with the debrief to sit through and reports to write. They'd lost one of their new troops in the rush of first contact, and Ghost spent some time writing up a letter home for the soldier's loved ones as well, just so Price wouldn't have to.

It was only after he had gotten all of his duties finished that he finally found the time to sit in the shower of his private quarters and breathe. The constant rush and patter of water drowned everything out, turned into white noise that filled and overflowed until it pushed all the usual blood and gore of a mission out of his mind. It was peaceful.

He heard the bathroom door open and relaxed marginally more. The only person with an extra key to his room was Soap, the only welcome company he'd have at a time like this.

The shuffling of clothes being removed was eventually followed by a body sliding into the shower behind him. He kept his eyes closed, not needing to see the way that Soap was doing the exact thing he had earlier – eyes roaming over his body in all its bareness to check for injuries. Even if Simon hadn't been in the direct line of fire as a sniper, they both worried.

Everybody with a partner did.

"I'm alright, Si," Johnny eventually murmured, pressing a kiss to the water-slick skin of his shoulder as he wrapped his arms around the lieutenant.

Simon squeezed one forearm gently in reply. "Good. It got close there for a second."

"Did, didn't it?" The sergeant's chuckle was tempered by his own exhaustion.

Adrenaline from close calls like his had a way of shucking you like an oyster. It left you gutted and exhausted, wide awake and shaking when you tried to sleep. They all knew it, the toll of getting out when your chances of survival were hanging on by the skin of its teeth.

They were silent for a while, basking in each other's presence and letting the sound of water drown everything out. It wasn't until the water finally started going cold that Simon turned around to wash Johnny's hair. He got the same treatment in return, wordless, before they washed off whatever mess from the mission lingered still and got out from under the slowly freezing spray.

"I'm alright," is what Soap finally said when they finally slid into bed together, side by side but not quite touching. "Just a few bruises, they'll be gone in a week, Lt."

It was a reassurance for himself, this time. Something to ease into sleep with when his mind would be replaying worst-case scenarios otherwise.

Simon let out a long breath through his nose as he settled into the barely comfortable military-standard bed and draped an arm over his partner.

"Good," is all he said.

He wouldn't be getting any sleep that night.

~~~

The bruises did disappear, quite quickly in fact. They didn't seem to have much depth to them, thankfully – soon Soap was back to throwing recruits and even some KorTac members around on the sparring mats, just as teasing and cheerful as ever.

Ghost was content to watch from the sidelines for a while, until the sparring matches eased from actual training and more into amusement for the men. Soap held his ground for a while, until getting pushed out by a fresher-faced Gaz. Ghost gave him a few rounds then to see if he'd fold under anyone else before he stepped in as well.

"Ah, c'mon Ghost- you can't bully me just cause I beat your boyfriend!" Gaz laughed, falling into position easily.

Ghost copied him, tilting his head. "Is that what this is about? I thought I'd remind you not to get cocky."

Then he stepped forward and swung a fist at Gaz's head. The man dodged, just like Ghost expected him to. It turned into a teasing back-and-forth – he even kept the match going for a while longer than strictly necessary before putting Gaz facedown on the sparring mat.

Of course, the man bitched and moaned as much as he ever did, but ultimately slunk off the mat with a laugh to join Soap watching on the sidelines.

A couple of recruits came and tried their luck against Ghost, and a KorTac member named Horangi if he remembered correctly. They were all easy enough, even if Horangi was a slippery bitch to handle.

It was only as Horangi was stepping off the mat that a bigger challenge was brought in, in the form of König.

Ghost stared up at him, mask to mask, and made room for the man to step onto the mat.

"Cmon König, kick his ass for us!" Horangi called with a laugh – Ghost saw the way König's eyes flickered away for a second and used the opportunity to lunge.

It seemed like König wasn't caught quite as off-guard as Ghost expected though, and thus was the start one of the hardest sparring matches that Ghost had gotten the pleasure of having in a while. For every lunge, König made room and twisted away – for every retaliation, Ghost braced himself on his heels and pushed back.

The giant was a heavy hitter, as expected. Unexpectedly fast, too. Still, it was only a matter of time before Ghost got him down to the ground, sparring turning into rough and tumble wrestling. They both fought dirty then, bodies straining against each other to find some sort of opening, a weak point to exploit.

At some point Ghost caught the back of König's hood and tugged – it wasn't angled to take it off, instead sending the man crashing into him. The Austrian angled himself to bash his head against Ghost's face and he felt something pop, but he still got the man in a headlock, legs wrapping around König's to keep him pinned against him. He was below the man, but they both knew who would win here as his arm tightened around the man's throat.

König persisted – tense, pushing, and there was a moment where somehow Ghost knew that he could break out of his not-inconsiderable hold in an instant.

Yet, he went slack in his grip after a few heart-pounding moments, tapping a hand against the lieutenant's thigh to get him to loosen up.

Konig rolled to the side and they separated, getting to their feet. Ghost stared at the Austrian with a careful gaze, curious and apprehensive. He could have won that fight, could have put Ghost on his ass, he felt it. There wasn't any of the shivering effort of exertion that there usually was when someone else was fighting him. For all that they had struggled against each other, it had felt fucking artificial, now that he had a moment to breathe. The man simply locked his muscles into place at the appropriate times – as if he was fighting against a fucking toddler and letting him win.

How fucking strong was the man?

"Alright boys, come on! Dinner's gonnae be starting in ten, hit the showers and get cleaned up before ye stink up the mess hall!" Soap called, finally deciding to break up the impromptu king of the mat game.

The men around them laughed and started breaking up the gathering around them, and König quickly excused himself. Ghost watched as he bee-lined for the door, ducking through it like he was running from punishment.

"Lt, you good?" Soap leaned in close, eyes widening slightly. "Oh, bleedin' hell, he got you pretty good."

"Hm?" Ghost met the sergeant's eyes, focusing in on him. He reached up to where he could feel his heartbeat throbbed uncomfortably in his face, and he could rather suddenly feel the stickiness of blood under his mask. "He did, yeah."

"C'mon, let's get ye cleaned up and get tae dinner," the Scot chuckled in amusement, tugging Ghost along by the arm, towards the lieutenant's room.

Ghost let him lead, trying to work out why König had let him win.

~~~

That was the start of something that Ghost couldn't exactly define. He found himself watching König more and more often during group sparring sessions and training, studying him.

He was a damn good soldier, that was clear. He followed orders like an unflinching hound during training, he was strong and fast and steady as a rock.

And yet, when it came to sparring with others, Ghost watched and grew more annoyed when he saw the way that König would let other people win. Not all of them, of course – that would only look suspicious – but after their match, Ghost knew that he could throw any of them on their ass with minimal struggle.

He couldn't fucking understand why he held back. Maybe it was that damn social anxiety that he saw, not wanting to draw attention to himself. Maybe he was trying to help others, in his own way, boosting egos as he went – fat lot of good that would do in the field.

"You've been glaring," Soap said in his ear. "What's got you so wound up with König?"

Ghost didn't give the sergeant the satisfaction of flinching, though he hadn't heard the man approaching with the noise surrounding them.

"He's strong enough to throw Gaz off," he said, nodding towards where the two were grappling on one of the mats. Gaz had him apparently trapped, arm twisted in such a way that could break his arm if pulled the right way. "And he isn't going to."

Soap raised an eyebrow, Ghost could feel it. "Ye sure about that, Lt? That's a hard hold tae get out of."

The lieutenant nodded once, firmly. "He could've put me on my ass when we fought, but he just gave up instead."

That definitely seemed to give Soap pause, as Ghost knew it would. Everyone knew that he was the best, and proud of that fact – he wouldn't have admitted that he could've been bested so easily if it wasn't true.

"... so, he's letting other people beat him? Why's that?"

"That's what I've been wondering."

"Have ye tried asking him?"

Ghost let his gaze slide away from König and Gaz then, staring at Soap with an unimpressed look that he knew the sergeant could feel. He also knew what the Scot was going to do the moment that König was free, which would be in just a few seconds since he was currently tapping out. Just like Ghost had predicted.

Soap just grinned, didn't even look away from Ghost as he called over. "Hey König!"

The mountain of a man looked over in their direction, surprised at the sound of his own name. "Ja, sergeant?"

"Go a round with me? I want to see what you can do."

The man stiffened slightly, but nodded as he stood up. Gaz patted his shoulder, causing the big guy to flinch slightly before stepping off the mat. "If you want, sir," he said, seeming somewhat hesitant.

Soap shrugged and stepped onto the mat, rolling his shoulders slightly. "We don't have to right now, if ye don't feel up to it, König."

"I can go another round," the Austrian confirmed, settling into a defensive stance.

Ghost watched closely as Soap circled the man – the size difference was somewhat comical, but he knew that the Scot would be a formidable opponent no matter the height advantage. König did too, he'd seen enough of the man in action both in and out of the field.

When Soap struck out, König brushed the hit aside and stepped back. Another hit, another deflection and retreat, learning Soap's style bit by bit as he went along.

It was only when Soap had him backed against a corner of the mat that König finally went on the offensive. He used his longer reach to his advantage, pushing Soap out of range. Johnny dodged the fist aimed for his cheek, his ribs, his belly, before pushing in close.

Soap clearly got too close for comfort for König, any gap between them closing as Ghost watched Johnny ram into him and send the two sprawling. This, he knew, was where König seemed to push every fight during their sparring. To the ground, grappling where he could either pin his opponent down with a knee to the back or just fucking give up. It was a style that was almost wholly unseen when the man was in the field, and it made an undefined part of Ghost bubble with irrational anger.

"König!" His voice was louder than he'd meant for it to be – but it got the soldier's attention regardless. Soap paused as well, looking to his lieutenant for direction.  "On your feet, now. You're not going to be any fucking good if you get down on the ground every time you get into a close quarters fight."

Soap got up first, the Austrian following at a slower pace. He seemed wary, staring at Ghost with his head down like he was some scolded pup waiting to be kicked.

"Start again," he ordered, voice leaving no room for denial. "Either pin Soap quickly or stay on your feet."

Slowly, the giant nodded and settled back into his starting position, and Soap did the same.

The next few rounds went on a similar fashion – König would be knocked to the ground and Ghost would halt them and have them restart. He could see the growing frustration in the man, his restraint becoming more obvious and tenuous with each time he was called out.

Finally, the fourth time that Ghost called him out on his shit, he seemed to break. "Sir, please-"

"Please what?"

"I-I do not want to hurt my teammates, not in training-"

"You think the soldiers here would be so easily broken? I'm not telling you to break his back over your knee," God knows how many enemy soldiers he'd noticed König leaving in his wake like that, "I'm telling you to pin him. I know that you're strong and quick enough for it."

The operator seemed to pause, before nodding with a low "Yes sir," that finally seemed to lack the perpetual anxiety that doggedly seemed to nip at the man's heels, instead being replaced by thinly veiled annoyance.

"Good. Now go again."

This time the round lasted all of a few seconds. Soap grinned and beckoned König forward with his usual cocky banter, and then barely had the time to yelp before the taller man lunged forward and his legs were yanked out from under him. Soap tried to struggle, and got as far as getting one leg free to kick at the Austrian before the taller man was on top of him and using his weight to pin down the other's limbs.

Ghost was impressed – he had expected something of the like, but he hadn't expected it to be quite that quick.

He didn't have much time to ponder though, as König silently nodded to him and stood, stalking out the door without a word.

"Bleedin' Jesus, Lt," Soap wheezed from where he had been sprawled out floor. "Ye sure he isn't a machine?"

Ghost gave a noncommittal hum. "Aren't we all?"

The sergeant lifted his head just enough to raise an unimpressed eyebrow at him, and Ghost shrugged in return. To a point, it was true. They were all just cogs in the massive, churning guts of a machine. It wasn't what he was talking about and they both knew it, but still. Ghost had spent a lot of time as a killing machine himself, before Soap had stepped in and reminded him how to be human. But even he hadn’t ever been able to do something like that, with the ease that König had just shown.

He wasn't so truly, terrifyingly flawless at killing, like he'd seen in glimpses of the man.

On the field König was a living battering ram, unstoppable and brutal. It was part of why Ghost was so frustrated with the man's performance in training. It didn't allow him to gauge the man's actual skill level, which would let him know how best to use him on the field.

It was wasted potential.

"C'mon, Lt. Get your mind off of him for a bit,  come spar with me," Soap said with a grin.

Ghost raised an eyebrow at his sergeant and gave a shrug. "If you want to be beaten that badly, why not?"

"Awa' n bile yer heid," the sergeant growled.

Ghost just grinned under the mask and stepped into the ring, satisfactorily distracted for the time being.

~~~

Try as he might to steer his attention away, Ghost started noting oddities in and around König.

Clearly, he already had his whole… thing, with training. But there were other instances of odd behavior from the operator, on and off the field. And they were starting to add up, little by little.

~~~

"Bloody hell- why didn't you say you were hit?" Ghost felt his eyes widen in shock despite himself – the Austrian was covered with blood, the more unprotected sides of his tac vest torn and soaked with red.

He watched as the man stiffened, looking down at himself before he stumbled through his response. "Ah- it- it is not mine, Lieutenant."

"You have a hole in your side, what do you-" Ghost brought his hand up to the hole in his vest, prodding deeper, falling silent when he met unbroken skin. Still slick with blood, but uninjured.

His hand dropped quickly at that as he tried to take stock of the situation. "How the hell did you get a hole like that?"

"I got very lucky, and had a run in with some barbed wire," the giant said with a light chuckle. "I am all in one piece though, I promise."

Ghost gave him a critical look but nodded, and turned away to get everyone gathered for exfil.

~~~

"König! Where the hell have you been?"

"Entschuldigung, Lieutenant, my comms got damaged," the Austrian explained as he slid in beside Ghost. "I did not mean to worry you."

Ghost huffed, his focus taken by an enemy soldier that dared pop their heads out of cover – they got a bullet to the skull for their troubles. "How did you even find me, then?"

The other was silent for a moment too long, before stuttering out an excuse. "I- I just followed the bodies."

He almost took the excuse without question, before remembering that most of the bodies he'd dropped thus far had been on the other side of the stretch of no-mans-land they were going to have to attempt to cross.

"König-"

"Ghost, how copy?" Price's voice crackled through his comms, effectively cutting him off.

He gave the other man a critical look, but let it go.

~~~

"You're injured."

The voice next to Ghost nearly made him jump. Christ, the fact that König could sometimes move quietly enough to catch even him off guard was… concerning, almost.

"I'm not," he shut down with a grunt. It was a lie, of course, but not much of one. Some lucky soul had nicked him pretty good, but the wound already had a wad of bandages pressed to it underneath his shirt. It would hold until they got back to base and to a proper medic.

That didn't seem to settle König though – as Ghost watched he swore he saw the man's eyes literally, physically darken. Just a flicker, before they settled back into a dull green.

He'd never taken note of the man's eye color before.

"You are though, Lieutenant." The Austrian kept his voice low enough that the others in the truck wouldn't hear him.

Ghost nearly growled back at him, but kept himself on check. "It's fine."

"Ghost-"

"Enough."

That seemed to shut him up, and Ghost carefully hid his wince as their truck ran over a bigger bump in the road.

He didn't know how König had noticed his injury.

~~~

Things were quiet in the safehouse for now – only four of them, with Price staying on base for now. Gaz was laid out on the ground with a bullet hole in his thigh, Soap was doing his best to prep a meal for them, and Ghost was pretty sure König must've been exhausted with how he was slumping against the wall.

It had been a rough few days on all of them. Their informant had turned on them, landing them stranded and freezing in some empty wasteland of Russian soil. Not like it was unexpected, the informant had been sketchy as hell. But it didn't make it much easier for them to deal with.

This time the strangeness in König seemed to come in double-time, with them all pressed into such close quarters.

First was the way that he seemed to avoid Gaz at whatever cost. He was always pressed into the corner directly opposite of the injured man, huddled into his own space.

Then he was outside far too often to be safe or sane. It was far below freezing, and yet the man took watch out on the porch for hours without complaint. Ghost was almost concerned about frostbite or hypothermia in the man. Those worries were only sated by the way he moved freely, without the stiffness of either affliction.

And then Ghost noticed the way that König started refusing to eat – saying that he'd eat later, after his watch. Yet when he checked in with Soap, it didn't seem like any rations were going missing from their stash outside of the group's meals. He would almost believe that König had his own stash, or was getting food from somewhere else, but he had carefully been keeping an eye on the man whenever possible. He wasn't sneaking away, staying on guard or just idly sitting in the building that they had shacked up in.

Ghost was gearing up to do some sort of intervention – because like hell was he going to let anyone under his command starve themselves – when König saved him the trouble by approaching him himself.

"Sir," he began nervously.

Ghost stared at him, waiting for the man to continue. "What is it, soldier?"

"Well- we are running out of food, Lieutenant." König shuffled on his feet. "My family used to hunt… I could find something out here, get more to last us."

The lieutenant's initial gut reaction was to deny the request. He was already wary about König's behavior, had been for weeks- months now. Letting him wander out of his sight when he was already acting strangely made Ghost's skin crawl.

But he had a point. They were steadily running lower and lower on food, especially on protein – an animal would help with that. And while Ghost was stealthy, he didn't hunt. Not animals, at least. If one of them were experienced in it, it would help them in case this mission got extended any longer. Especially with Gaz still recovering, fresh food would only do him good…

After probably a few too many seconds of silence, he gave a sigh. "Fine. Try to make it as quick as you can, and keep your comms on."

Ghost had the feeling that the giant was grinning under his hood as he nodded vigorously. "Ja, yes sir, I will be back as soon as I have something."

He gave a nod, and with that the man was pulling a rifle over his shoulder and stepping out the door.

Four hours later and König returned, a relatively small deer slung over his shoulders, already bled and gutted.

They ate well for the rest of their stay, and König seemed more relaxed than ever.

~~~

Five months, and Ghost had countless questions and suspicions. And he had no answers.

Maybe it was unfair to be so wary of the man. He was settling into the 141 well – he'd seen König having midnight snacks with Gaz, Soap was beginning to be able to tease out steadily more conversation out of the man, and Price seemed happy to have another loyal duckling that would actually follow orders.

It felt unfair to be the only one still hung up on what was likely his own paranoia, but Ghost couldn't shake it. There was something off about König, and he didn't know what to make of it. Soap indulged him still – he didn't force Ghost to get closer to the man, but he did tell him little things he'd found out about him.

His favorite color was yellow, and he enjoyed laying out in the sun on clear, slow days. Apparently he had a hell of a sweet tooth, and very strong opinions on marzipan. Had a habit of rambling when he was excited too, something that Ghost had yet to see.

He tried to ignore the guilty pang that came with that thought. Ghost knew that it was his own fault that König hadn't warmed up to him yet. He just… couldn't let it go. The unexplained disappearances, the uncanny ability to know when someone was injured, the fact that Ghost was becoming more aware of the fact that König rarely seemed to eat.

He was sure he was going insane.

At least, until everything went to shit. 

~~~

"Fuck- Soap, get the door shut!" Ghost ordered the Scot, who obeyed without hesitation, dragging a chair over to shove under the door handle for good measure.

The door wouldn't hold for long, but they were hidden for a moment at least. They were all running low on ammo, outnumbered and caught off guard without a good place to defend from. And, as of now, currently trapped in a box with only one exit.

Soap could probably fashion some kind of nasty explosive from what he had on them, the man was brutally capable at such things. Ghost still had a few knives and a grenade still tucked away, though they wouldn't be enough if there were more than just a few enemies to take care of.

They could bottleneck their attackers at that door. They could steal weapons, ammo, grenades and whatever hell else they could scrounge off the corpses that walked through the door. They could wait out the onslaught until they were able to get a hold of Price or anyone that would be able to get backup to their location asap. If they were lucky. Which, unfortunately, didn't seem very likely with the way that things had been going thus far.

A glance at Soap told Ghost that the same thoughts were going through the other man's head. They might be well and truly fucked here.

Still, it wasn't like they were going to give up without a fight. They were part of an elite task force for a reason, Ghost and Soap had already gotten out on top of impossible situations many times before. What was one more?

"Johnny, anything you can rig that won't kill us in here?"

The Scot made an uncertain noise, cradling his rifle close to his chest as König kept his own trained on the door. "Don't think so, Lt. Any blast in here will stun us more than it will them, too close."

Ghost cursed – just a moment before something slammed into the door. The flimsy chair that held it shut rattled but held for now. Silently he directed Soap to the opposite wall where he'd have a modicum more shelter behind the door, and König set himself front and center as he crouched behind the abandoned desk in the room with his weapon trained on the door.

There was a shout from behind the door, calling out their position, and then König sent a round through the thick wood.

The shout devolved into screaming and Ghost nodded his approval. They were already caught out, no reason to wait any longer.

They all waited with bated breath, seconds stretching into agonizing moments until the thunder of boots heralded the approach of enemies.

Ghost sidled up beside the door, claiming first contact as the chair holding it shut was smashed under the weight of the first enemy trooper. His knife slid smooth as butter into the man's throat and he dragged the body aside.

Everything turned to chaos, then. König took out the following soldier, Ghost dropped the third, and Soap shot out the kneecaps of the next couple with a lucky shot.

They were able to bottleneck the bastards at the door. Ghost even heard a shout go up, desperate for reinforcements that they apparently didn't have much of. They backed off, taking shelter deeper in the hallway outside, and König harassed them with potshots anytime they tried to show their faces. 

Ghost was about to suggest trying to push out of the room when he heard the sound of the Austrian's gun jamming.

There was half a second of horrible, awful silence, before he heard König mutter a "Schiße," and a hole opened in the man's chest with the thundering sound of a gunshot. Blood bloomed from his right side – it must've only been a couple inches from his heart at most. 

All at once it was like time started again. König fell to the floor, down under the desk that he'd been sheltering behind, and Ghost and Soap were forced to scramble to cover the gap that König had left. What had been a brutal but surprisingly balanced struggle turned into a desperate bid to survive for a few more seconds at a time.

Ghost pulled his last remaining grenade from its clip, pulling the pin and throwing it out the door. One, two- the explosion made his ears ring for a second, but it bought them enough time.

Johnny scrambled over to König, and in between the shouting and the cries of the wounded and dying, Ghost could hear Soap muttering words of comfort to the dying man.

And that was the thing, wasn't it? König was fucking dying. Five months serving and fighting beside their team, and Ghost hadn't even bothered to learn a damn thing about the man. Not by himself, at least. He'd kept him at arm's length for the entire time that König had been there.

Fuck, there was no time for guilt in a moment like this. Ghost shook his head clear of it and listened to the way that the enemies outside seemed to be regrouping after the blast.

He peeked out of the doorway. Two quick shots, two downed men. Ghost was as precise and deadly as ever, and even as their predicament and the threat to Soap's life settled into him, he tried to get himself to sink.

Back into the mindset that he had forced himself to learn and survive with, once upon a time.

A soldier. A mutt to be trained. A machine to kill.

Until he heard Soap give a shout. His first reaction was to turn, defend the man, he couldn't lose his Johnny-

"Move," came the broken growl, sounding like a death rattle in its own right. A shiver ran down his spine and Ghost glanced behind him as he made way.

König stood there, head bowed even as he towered over him. Ghost had never been one to feel small, he was 6'4 for god's sake – but the way that crimson, bloody red flickered down at him from the darkened eye holes of the man's mask managed to do it.

The Austrian only paused long enough to grab a gun from a slain soldier before stepping out into the hallway. Ghost almost stopped him, or at least he tried to tell himself that he did, because all he could do was watch.

He thought that König was a force to be reckoned with before. He knew the man was dangerous, almost as dangerous as Ghost himself, at least. He'd always had a feral edge to him in the field that was almost completely unseen on base. An eagerness to fight, chasing the adrenaline of death and the excitement of doing something that he was good at.

But it was nothing like this. Nothing like watching him charge into the fray and leave slaughter in his wake.

Ghost was not a superstitious man, nor was he a fool. But even he knew that a human was not meant to be able to break a man's neck with grip strength alone. He knew the growl that echoed down the hall over the screams of terror was not fucking natural.

He knew what he was watching was not human.

"Steamin' bloody Jesus," Soap muttered next to him, and Ghost glanced over and gave the sergeant a once-over to make sure he wasn't hurt.

Nothing out of the ordinary, his partner watching in horrified amazement at the carnage that König was leaving behind. Safe, unharmed – probably just a bit shaken up.

They'd have time for their usual rituals later. For now, the hallway was beginning to go quiet.

There was a thump, and Ghost watched as Soap's eyes went wide and he rushed out of the door that they had been defending. It snapped Ghost back to attention as he followed close on his sergeant's heels.

Outside was a true scene of carnage. Between traded rounds, Ghost's grenade, and König's rampage, the walls were painted red and charred black. It was the sort of gore that they were all used to seeing, but there was something different about it with König on his knees in the middle of all of it.

There was still a hole in his chest- in the quiet that was beginning to settle over the groans of the dying, it popped and gurgled, splattering red with every breath that König drew in. With the blood that was liberally soaking the man, there was no way that he should still be alive. Especially now that he had a few new holes in him – his shoulder, his hip, his gut and thigh.

"König," Soap called out softly, always so much softer than Ghost could manage. He approached the giant like a wounded animal, hands held out peacefully. "Are ye- ye with us?"

Another wheezing, gurgling breath in and König coughed. It sounded like he was trying to clear his throat, choking on blood as one hand met the linoleum floor of the building. The other hand came up and dragged his helmet and hood off so he could freely spit blood.

"S-ser-geant," König mumbled, the word coming out twisted and stuttered as he struggled to breathe.

Soap stepped closer as Ghost watched, dropping to his knees beside the man. "Bleedin' Jesus König, tae fuck is all this? What are ye?"

König only groaned, hunching further in on himself until his forehead nearly met the floor. Then he dragged himself up, crawling away from them, towards a body that was still breathing. Lifting his head and shaking hands, looking as if he was going to cuddle up to the nearly-dead man.

Until both Ghost and Soap watched in horror as König opened his mouth, flashing inhuman fangs, and dug them into the man's neck.

"Bloody hell," Ghost muttered. König shivered and seemed to try to shrink in on himself at the sound of his voice, but he didn't stop drinking.

Part of his mind couldn't believe what he was seeing. He wasn't a fool, he wasn't a believer in half-baked mythologies and magical creatures. Everything he'd ever seen had a very real, very human explanation behind it.

Except for this. Hearing a quiet, metallic plink as a bloody bullet hit the floor. Another being pushed out of König's body as he watched. The horrid gurgling of the man's breath turned quiet and stopped after painstaking minutes of watching the creature in front of them feed.

Then König pulled back from the pale body he had drained, looking towards them with green-again eyes contrasting the bloody red around his mouth, guilty and fearful. Ghost almost laughed at the thought, that a beast like König could be scared of them.

"Please," the man finally blurted. "Please, please don't tell anyone-"

Ghost growled the man's name, at the same time that Soap gave an unthinking promise to König.

They glanced at each other, each giving a reprimand in their own right, before Ghost rolled his eyes and angled his chin towards König. He'd figure things out with Soap later, when they weren't all hopped up on adrenaline and shaken from a close call.

"We won't tell anyone, König," Soap repeated. "But just- ye-"

"A vampire," he said quietly, green eyes falling to the floor. "I- I did not mean- I did not want to hide it, but-"

"Aye, you're alright," Soap reassured the man. "Can't imagine it'd be easy to tell people about it. Are ye- can I come closer?"

König blinked, glancing up at Ghost for half a second before breathing a soft sigh. "I- ja, bitte," he answered, pleading.

With the man's permission, Soap slid closer on his knees and Ghost forced himself to drag his gaze away. Of course Johnny would be there to take care of their teammate. He was always better at checking in on people like that.

He heard the Scot reassuring their apparently undead teammate, only took note of their position enough to see the way that Soap held König's face in his hands, supporting his weight as the man slumped. No doubt he was exhausted and shaken after the wound that was supposed to be fatal.

Ghost allowed them a minute, before he forced himself to be their lieutenant. "On your feet, you two. Need to get out of here before anybody else comes around."

König glanced up at him and nodded. It took a minute, but the giant unfurled to his full height and once again towered over Ghost.

Helmet and hood were replaced, and Soap started scavenging some ammo and weapons from the bodies around them. Ghost started pushing back the way they came, making sure that everything was truly quiet for the moment as they collected themselves.

When the two came to meet him, Soap instead took point. König paused for just a moment to glance at Ghost, his eyes seeming exhausted.

"Thank you, Lieutenant," the Austrian murmured.

"Don't thank me yet. You'll have some explaining to do when we get back to base."

Chapter Text

The ride back to base was tense, and quiet if not for Soap’s idle chatter about everything and nothing. All Ghost could do was focus on the fact that Johnny was alive and safe – unharmed, even, which was damn near a miracle with what they had encountered.

They got back to base, cleaned up, sat through their debriefing, hid the vampiric revelation part of their mission, and finally, Ghost was able to pull the two of them into his room.

"How long have you been a vampire?"

"A little more than a year."

"Have you told anyone else?"

"Nein," was the vehement answer.

"Are you able to control yourself?"

"I have been able to so far."

"That's not good enough, König."

"I- as long as I am able to feed regularly, sir."

“What is ‘regularly’ to you?”

“About two, maybe three weeks at the longest.”

"Can you drink animal blood if needed?"

At that, König shuffled in his seat. He was sitting in Ghost's desk chair in the middle of the room, Soap casually sprawled over his bed and Ghost himself standing a few steps away from the Austrian. It felt like an interrogation – which to be fair, it kind of was.

"König." Ghost's arms tightened where they were crossed over his chest in agitation. "Can you?"

"I… can. If I have to."

"Explain."

The man took a deep breath and sighed. "It makes me feel sick, sir. Like- the-" he gave an annoyed huff, waving a hand in agitation. "Those people who cannot have milk, it does not sit well with me."

"Lactose intolerant?" Soap finally spoke up from the bed, curiosity obviously piqued.

"Ja, that."

"Huh, that's interesting. Do ye still need to drink water?"

König glanced at Ghost as if seeking permission to answer, to which the Brit just rolled his eyes and stepped away. He knew that Soap had more inane questions to ask, and the more important questions had already been gone through, at least for now.

"I do not know, honestly. I… have not had reason to go without."

“What about garlic?” The Scot sat up properly, leaning forward with his curiosity now. “Like, how much of the original legends are actually true? Does sunlight hurt ye, is that what the hood is about?”

“Ah… sunlight does not really hurt, it just makes my head ache. Gives me migraines if I am pulled from a dark space to full sunlight too quickly,” König explained. “And garlic just… it is very… pungent. Not as bad as some other things, though.”

Soap tilted his head in thought, narrowing his eyes. “Then the hood…? Or is it just to help with the anxiety?”

König shuffled in his seat, too-long legs shifting until his ankles were crossed under the chair, a position that Ghost couldn’t imagine was comfortable. “It does help with the anxiety, but- I cannot entirely hide my fangs.”

“Oh, I guess that makes sense… didn’t really see much of ‘em, ye ken?” Soap gave him a charming smile, and Ghost had to resist the urge to roll his eyes.

“Ah, yes…?” König mostly looked confused.

Ghost huffed, slightly amused. “Johnny, don’t start harassing the man about showing his face. Didn’t you get enough of that with me?”

Johnny just grinned, standing and coming over to bump his hip against the lieutenant’s. “Oh come on, you can’t say that ye aren’t curious about it as well. Never thought that vampires were real, much less that I’d be able to meet one.”

“You- want to see?” König looked up at the both of them, his voice going soft and small. Like he wasn’t expecting the curiosity.

“If ye want to share,” Johnny said easily, shrugging as if he didn’t hear that soft quality to König’s voice. Maybe he did, and was glossing over it for now. Ghost kind of wanted to know what caused it, but he left it alone for now. “No pressure, though.”

The Austrian paused for a few moments, before his hand reached up to pull his hood off with one long drag. It upset the dark, too-long hair beneath it, leaving flyaways laying haphazardly across his face and being pulled in the wrong direction on his scalp. It made Ghost twitch with annoyance – how the man could handle the feeling, Ghost couldn’t understand.

But his face was… soft. Muddy green eyes, thick brows that seemed to perpetually tilt downwards, making him look almost mournful. Thin and almost delicate features, lips surprisingly full and bitten pink as they pursed together, barely hiding the shape of prominent canines.

Johnny gave a delighted little laugh as his body seemed to almost unconsciously lean closer. “Oh, yer a bonnie thing, aren’t ye?”

It made Ghost realize that he was staring, as he tore his gaze away to roll his eyes.

König sputtered slightly, pale face flushing pink as his eyes darted away. “I- um…”

“Can I see?” Soap motioned to his own mouth in question, curiosity burning in his eyes.

“Ja, if you would like?”

“Just pull away if ye get uncomfortable, I just wanna see.” With that, Johnny stepped closer until König had to crane his neck back to meet him, lips going slack.

The Scot cradled the man’s face in one hand, the other brushing his jaw as he pushed his lip upwards, and Ghost couldn’t help his amusement at the sight. It almost looked like König was a dog at the vet, getting his gums checked. But the fangs underneath were even more wicked than any animals – unnaturally sharp, terrifyingly long. Both top and bottom canines had been elongated, almost a full inch in length, perfectly aligned when they came together.

It almost made Ghost nervous, for Johnny to have his fingers so close, though König had proven himself to be trustworthy time and again.

“Steamin’ Jesus, and you manage to not nick yourself with those?” Soap stared at the Austrian’s mouth for a few seconds before withdrawing his touch, though König almost seemed to sway forward to try to follow it.

König just shrugged, after a second. “I- well, I do. The wounds simply heal quickly. And I have been getting better at avoiding it, too.”

“Mm, poor thing,” the Scot chuckled and patted the other’s face. “You obviously heal quick, do ye need blood to do it?”

“Only for large wounds… serious ones. Small cuts, bruises will only last for a few minutes.”

Ghost hummed, cutting in for another one of his own questions. “And you usually feed while we’re on missions?”

König seemed to shrink in on himself as he spoke – he almost felt bad about it, knowing the other man was apparently afraid of him in some capacity. “Ja, when I can find a moment alone- away from the others.”

The Brit nodded, thinking for just a moment. “From now on, I want you to bring someone with you if possible. Either me or Johnny, if we’re with you.”

“W- is there- is there a reason?”

“Just want to make sure someone is watching your back. No matter if you’re near indestructible.” 

“Oh,” König breathed, eyes nervously flickering to the side. “Ja- yes sir. I will do that.”

“Good,” he said flatly. “Now go rest up.”

For just a moment his gaze flicked up, to Ghost, to Soap, and then back again. He seemed frozen, before König snatched up his hood again and rose to his feet quickly enough to almost stumble. “Ah- yes sir. Um- have a good night.”

Ghost grunted and once again saw the faint flinch, the way the man gave a minute shake of his head as he replaced the hood and stepped out of the door.

“No need tae be so hard on the man, Lt,” Johnny said chidingly, though his tone was more amused than scolding.

Again, he simply gave a vague, non-committal noise and turned to his partner. He tugged him closer with a hand balled in his shirt and finally, finally let himself relax. Fall into his post-mission ritual.

Johnny held him close, and let him run wandering, nervous hands over his skin until he was sure that the man was all in one piece.

~~~

Many things made much more sense about König after that. A few weeks passed from that last mission, and things picked up again as they always did. The man lost the sense of mystery that had kept Ghost wary about him – with his secret explained, it even seemed that the man had become rather clingy.

Or at least, he was with Johnny. The man was often found trailing just a step or two behind the sergeant, like a lonely puppy. And with how Soap did the same with Ghost… they became a common trio on base. He wasn't aware that other people had noticed until Gaz asked him where König was. It didn't help that he could reply with some confidence that he was in the rec room with Soap.

The sudden disappearances during missions stopped, or at least one of them accompanied him off to find a freshly dead corpse to feed off of. It was rather unsettling to watch the man feed off of a nearly-dead corpse for the first time, but after that he more or less accepted it as his new norm. He learned to look away as König cleaned up, giving the man a few moments to wash the blood off his face without feeling judged, or…

Well, for as much trust as König put in him, he hoped that he wasn’t outright scared of him anymore.

~~~

Sometimes Ghost would find the giant knocking on his door during meals to nibble on whatever the mess was serving.

Sometimes it would be both him and Soap sitting in his room, sometimes it was just him. When Soap was there Ghost found himself content to sit back and listen to the two of them talk. Finally he got to see the way that König seemed to be able to rant, going from shy and soft-spoken to boistrous as he flailed his arms around as he spoke. It was… endearing, he had to admit. He could see why Johnny liked spending time around the man, seeing him come out of his shell in the privacy of the lieutenant’s room.

But sometimes, it would just be him and König. He wasn’t Johnny, and he knew that – he couldn’t tease the same sort of energetic conversation out of the man that the Scot could. But he didn’t shut the man down either, and he found that König would talk on his own once he got comfortable enough to fill the silence.

It felt surprisingly good, when he finally got the chance to learn more about the man on his own. Both about his vampiric traits and his normal human quirks.

He learned that König could still eat human food, and it served to distract him from his hunger when they went too long without a mission where he could properly feed. He learned about his interest in reading, how he didn’t mind finding spoilers about the series that he picked up. His love of fantasy novels, his struggling attention span when it came to TV shows and movies, his absolute fear of the open ocean, which pulled a chuckle from the Brit the longer that König had gone on about it.

The wide-eyed look the vampire had given him filled him with some unnamable feeling that he wasn’t sure what to do with yet.

Outside of that though,Ghost learned that he could trust the giant, both in and out of the field. Not as much as Soap – he didn’t think anybody would be able to hold a candle to the Scot – but for the most part, the feeling of wariness had died off.

He felt glad for that. He remembered the flicker of guilt he felt in the moment where he had seen König go down with a shot to the chest, feeling like he had failed the man by not even trying to get to know him.

Now, it seemed, he had all the time in the world.

~~~

The unspoken things, though, came as reminders of what Soap had already told him.

Finding the man laying in the grass while Ghost trained recruits, soaking in the warmth of the sun.

Noting the way the man always seemed to have some stash of sweets in a pocket, slipping bite-sized pieces under his hood when he thought no one was watching.

It felt… satisfying, to put together the puzzle pieces of what made the man.

So he continued to allow him into his space, into his time, and settled down to watch.

~~~

"I think it was tae dumbest thing I've ever seen- this fuckin bawbag throwin' himself into the snow to avoid a snowball," Soap laughed, recounting some downtime that he had spent with one of his old squads since he had already finished his food.

They were in Ghost's room still finishing their lunches, König nibbling at a cube of cantaloupe. It was a rare treat to have fresh-cut fruit instead of apples, bananas, or whatever would last the longest.

At first Ghost didn't notice, but between one glance and the next he realized that König had nibbled the cube of fruit down into a rough orb, marked by his less-sharp incisors.

“König,” he spoke up, eyes narrowed in confusion as the man’s gaze snapped towards him. “Why?”

“Huh?”

“Why… are you eating like that?”

At that, König glanced down at the tiny fruit-orb in his fingers. His face flushed a sweet red, eyes dropping further in embarrassment. “Ah… it just makes it last longer, is all.”

Ghost watched as the rest of the bite-sized piece of fruit disappeared between the vampire’s lips and gave an almost reluctant huff of a laugh. “Okay.”

(After that he noted the way that König made his favorite foods last as long as possible. Chocolate melting in his mouth, soft bread taken in smaller bites, a rare ice cream treat being scraped away little by little until the entire thing was on the edge of melting.

It was… charming. He refused to use any other word for such a childish habit.)

~~~

It was a quiet moment between missions – they only had a few days free so that Gaz and Soap could recover from being tossed out of a moving truck during a botched exfil attempt. Thankfully there were only bruises and a lightly sprained wrist on Soap’s part, and more bruises and scrapes on Gaz.

They had the full group in the rec room with some movies playing. Soap had insisted on watching Marvel movies, while Gaz had insisted on horror movies – Price had cut off the discussion with the declaration that they would watch the new Top Gun movie, in the name of classic rock and counting military inaccuracies.

Ghost would have been fine with anything, quite content to just sit and watch the chaos unfold with Johnny leaning into his space to rest his head on his shoulder and whisper jokes into his ear. 

Which is exactly what happened, until Johnny invited König onto the couch as he started dozing off where he had sat on the floor with Gaz. Then Johnny shifted away – Simon couldn't fully suppress a grumble at that – and König was sliding up beside him instead.

Johnny settled down near where König had been, though he got his shoulders wedged between Ghost's knees. The sergeant then got Gaz's head in his lap, and the two softly chatted amongst themselves as the movie continued.

It was nearing the credits when he felt a soft weight land on his shoulder and stiffened slightly.

Ghost was notoriously prickly about his space being invaded, and he was bracing for that uncomfortable feeling of something crawling under his skin at the contact, but-

It was just König. Masked, clearly asleep, shoulder pressed to Ghost's and his head listing towards the lieutenant's.

… it wasn't… bad. It wasn't the comfort that came with the physical weight of Johnny leaning against him, but it didn't make him want to pull a knife on the man. Sometimes even Gaz and Price were at risk of that, when Ghost was caught off guard or feeling extra prickly.

So for a while, he left the man. Let König sink further into him until the crown of his head brushed against his ear and Ghost finally shifted to let the man's head rest against his shoulder properly. König's neck would be killing him later, but it was alright. It was peaceful, even, Johnny wrapping an arm around his calf to pull it over his shoulder.

It was only during a quiet moment in the movie, near the very end, when he noticed it.

A faint rumble, almost constant before it hitched and changed tone slightly – and another hitch before it changed back. Back and forth, Ghost only got a few moments of it before the movie got louder again.

He didn't fully understand what he was hearing until the movie switched off.

Then he realized that it was coming from the man sleeping against his shoulder, head tucked into his neck.

Purring.

He didn't know shit about vampires, but he never would've guessed that they could purr. It was almost… cute, he had to admit. It made König seem more like a big cat than a towering, blood-drinking military machine. It was close enough that he felt bad about gently prodding König awake before the others noticed the sound in the quiet room.

"Hmmnn?" The Austrian's voice was muddled by sleep and his mask, his body shifting slightly but not quite moving away from Ghost.

"Go to bed, König. Movie's over."

"Ah, I am sorry. I didn't think I would fall asleep." His voice came sluggishly, with a long sigh that Ghost could almost imagine that he could feel through both of their masks. Then the man, still assumedly sleep-addled, pressed his face further into Ghost’s neck.

It finally had him stiffening up, feeling too close, hand coming up to grip the other man's arm. That seemed to do the trick in waking König fully, as the man twitched back again with a harsh inhale.

"Sorry, I- sorry." Hazy eyes blinked at him from behind the mask and Ghost simply nodded.

"Get to bed, soldier. I'll see you in the morning."

A nod and a barely-there moment of hesitancy, and the vampire slipped away with a quiet goodnight to the assembled group.

~~~

"Ye like him, don't you?" Johnny glanced at him from where he was still pulling off his boots.

Simon just watched the sergeant nearly trip over his jeans as he shucked those off too, lounging on his bed as he waited for his partner.

"Who're you talking about, love?"

"König," came the easy answer, Johnny flopping down half on top of him and making Simon grunt at the impact. Then the sergeant was crawling over him as if he was trying to get under Simon's skin – as if he knew that the blonde would let him do anything and everything he wanted to him. "Ye like having him around, don't ye?"

Simon hummed quietly, arms circling around the Scot’s waist, fingers threading together to crush the man closer into him. The weight was comfortable, like his awareness was being pleasantly crushed into his body, leaving him in a safe cocoon with Johnny’s warmth surrounding him. "König is a good teammate."

"Aye, he is. But there's more there, right?"

It was cautious; sweet in Soap's hesitancy to overstep.

He gave a long sigh as he closed his eyes and pressed his nose to the warm skin of Johnny's neck, placing a gentle kiss against his pulse.

This was a conversation that… wasn't completely foreign to them. In the beginning of their relationship, tenuous as it was, Johnny had made it clear that he very much had the ability to love multiple people simultaneously. That he couldn’t always help the emotions that he felt. But before Simon even had the chance to respond, Johnny was following it up with such fierce reassurance of his loyalty that the Brit couldn't help but kiss the words off his tongue.

He hadn't really thought about anyone else in a romantic sense since Johnny. He wasn’t sure if he could, honestly. And he wasn’t sure if he could share, either. 

Simon had always been of a possessive sort, with everything from his space to his belongings, even his purely platonic friends. He didn't like sharing, didn't like having things that were his out of his sight, out of his control for too long. He carved his initials into his knives, wrote them in permanent marker on his gear, he had nearly fucking choked when Johnny had joked about cutting the letters into his skin. The people he called friends he always made sure to take some time with, and hated when that time was encroached upon by other things and especially other people.

But as he thought, he realized that he just… didn’t know about König. 

Maybe he should feel more threatened with how much time the man spent around Johnny, the way he obviously stared after the man, listlessly following him around. Maybe he should have felt more towards the way that the Austrian had been invading his room and his personal space more often. He definitely should have felt more with the way the man had been stealing away his time alone with Johnny.

Simon found that he simply didn't. He didn't care about it. It was like- there was something almost familiar about König, like barely-there déjà vu. Something that lingered in the spaces between stuttered words and aborted motions to reach out. It softened Ghost enough that he hadn't even realized how close the vampire had gotten until now, with Johnny asking if he felt more.

After a long silence, Johnny letting him think it over, he simply kissed the soft thrum of the Scot’s pulse and sighed again. "I don't know, love."

The man smiled, enough for Simon to feel it against his own skin and returned the kiss. "Alright, Si."

It was a quiet acceptance, giving the Brit space and time to think. It would come up again, a gentle prod to see where things were at, but there was no pressure. Johnny knew how big something like this was for Simon, to let someone new close to him.

He could take as long as he needed, and the Scot would love him every step of the way.

~~~

And think, Simon did. Ruminating on the thought of potentially inviting König closer.

He realized that the man was already close. Sharing time, food, training tips, equipment – as weeks passed and missions were completed, Ghost had to shove down the instinctive panic that came with the realization of just how close König had gotten. He had to remind himself that it was a good thing to let people in, let people that he cared about see the man under the mask. Even if it was only metaphorically, for now.

So he carefully forced himself to relax, like coming down from a nightmare where he had to consciously let his muscles go slack one by one.

Brick by brick, he pulled at the wall around his heart. It was just enough to fit a hand through, just enough to beckon König closer, but it would be enough for now.

Johnny was patient, and König was content with every scrap he received.

Simon had all the time that the world gave them to figure things out for himself.

~~~

Until they hit a lull.

They were still being deployed, sent out on missions that had them sitting in transport vehicles for hours on end before returning to home base. But they were only quick things. Easy, in and out type missions. Recon missions, intel gathering. Things meant for stealth.

It wasn’t like König wasn’t absolutely capable of stealth, and he continued to perform just as excellently as ever in the field, but the lack of violence meant a lack of blood.

Days ticked by, and Ghost watched as the man’s stress levels skyrocketed. He’d been getting better at seeing the signs. The man was usually fidgety as a rule; bouncing his knee, picking at loose threads on his pants, rolling the fabric of his hood between his fingers, tapping a beat against his thigh. But when he was stressed he seemed to still, as if he was trying to physically restrain his anxiety.

So when Ghost found him crumpled to his knees at the edge of his own bed, smothering himself against the blankets while he barely seemed to breathe, he knew that the man was nearing some sort of breaking point.

Johnny peeked around him with a small frown, stepping in ahead of Ghost. “König? Ye still with us?”

The sound seemed to rouse the man, as he rolled his head to the side. The eyeholes of his hood weren’t aligning with his actual eyes, so he finally dragged his body more properly upright to look at them. “Ja, Sergeant, I am just…”

“Hungry?” Soap said the word empathetically, giving an apologetic grimace. “Do ye think we could help with that, actually?”

Both Ghost and König looked over at him at that, one more worried than the other – and surprisingly, it didn’t seem like it was Ghost.

“Sergeant, I- I cannot-”

“Think ye can just take a sip? Just tae take the edge off?”

König sat up a little straighter, and Ghost watched the way he craned his neck to look up at the Scot from his kneeling position. His eyes were dark as they always were, but they seemed to be riding the edge between his usual green and the crimson that Ghost had only seen flashes of. It turned them a dirty, unpleasant brown – something almost like dried blood.

“I- I do not know-”

“Can ye trust me?”

That cut the man off, eyes craving – pleading, even if the words weren’t being spoken. Ghost had to commend the man on his self control. He didn’t know what it was like to have to deal with instincts that weren’t human, to starve for weeks while freely moving around and working with creatures that were, more or less, food.

“Ghost?” König said his name quietly, unable to meet the Brit’s eyes as they focused on him. “I- I could, if you would keep me from…”

At that, Ghost paused before giving a simple nod. It was important to keep König fed, and obviously he wasn’t going to let Soap be in any danger. “You’re just taking from his wrist, understand?”

A heavy breath escaped the Austrian, damn near crawling towards Soap as he nodded. “Ja, yes, yes sir, danke,” he mumbled.

Johnny chuckled lightly and shifted so that he could sit on the bed. König pulled his mask off and followed the movement, knees still pressed to the concrete floor as Ghost watched on.

For a moment, it almost felt like a much more inappropriate situation, watching König take up the Scot’s hand in his with something akin to reverence. The way he lifted the soft skin of the man’s wrist to his mouth was almost a touch too tender for how starved Ghost was sure he was – but then he saw a flash of fangs.

They barely pierced through the skin and he could see the way Johnny flinched just barely at the feeling, his face screwing up in discomfort as he hissed.

Only, it didn’t last for very long.

König was barely a few swallows in when Ghost saw the way Johnny’s gaze went hazy, unfocused. His carefully controlled breathing turned deep and even, utterly relaxed.

He didn’t like it. 

“Johnny?” He kept his own voice steady but firm as König continued to drink.

The Scot gave a distracted hum, taking a moment too long to look up at Ghost. “Hmm?”

With a slowly forming scowl, Ghost stepped forward and dropped a hand to the back of König’s neck. He gave it a harsh squeeze, knowing just at what point it would barely hurt – still, it took a second before the vampire drew away from Johnny’s wrist. He went with a whine, even, licking at the blood that still flowed from the other’s skin.

“Johnny,” he called again, his other hand coming up to tip the shorter’s chin up to meet his gaze properly. “You with me?”

A sweet sigh slipped out of the man, his head dropping into Ghost’s gloved hand. “Always am, Lt,” he said, sounding horribly doped up, reminiscent of the times where he was in the hospital and high on pain killers.

It had his eyes turning to König, who was pulling away from Johnny on his own now. He looked just as confused and concerned as the Brit, which didn’t give Ghost much hope, but he had to ask anyway.

“Have any idea what’s going on?”

As expected, König shook his head. His eyes were back to their normal green, at least. “Nein, I… if I am honest, I have not left anyone… alive, before.”

Ghost gave a long exhale, Johnny turning his head to nuzzle into his palm. “Well, looks like we’ll just have to wait for whatever this is to wear off. You didn’t take much, did you?”

“No, sir,” the Austrian mumbled. “Thank you.”

“You can thank Johnny when he’s fully coherent again.” He bit back a sigh, glad that his mask at least mostly hid the twist of his scowl. “... we should probably stay here until he comes off of it, I don’t want to carry him through the halls and have people think he got high here.”

König nodded, head down as he settled himself down into a more normal sitting position on the floor. “Of course, lieutenant.”

~~~

Thankfully it only took about fifteen minutes of mostly-silence for Johnny to come out of it, seeming no worse for wear after the experience. When asked, Soap described it very much like some sort of high – his headspace going all fuzzy, any pain caused by the bite disappearing as he was left to float.

The pair returned to Ghost’s room, leaving König fed and sated enough to not go feral for a few more days at least.

Ghost assumed that it was some sort of… venom, perhaps? The more he learned about König, the more he learned that the man didn’t seem to know much about being a vampire. He hadn’t yet gotten the details around how König had been turned or his experience with other vampires, so for the time being he had to assume that he didn’t have any experience.

So, they were working in the blind.

For the time being at least, König was fine. The man refused to take another sip from Soap, and part of Ghost was grateful. For as much self control as König obviously had, Ghost didn’t know how much more he could handle, watching those sharp fangs digging into his partner’s vulnerable wrists. It almost made him want to offer himself up instead, though his skin crawled an equal amount at the thought of being the one under that bite.

Missions went on for another couple of weeks, on and off, quick things that had them bouncing around the globe.

Until they were sitting in the briefing of their latest, and all three of them took a breath of relief. A search and destroy, something that would go loud – something that would finally provide König with some kind of meal.

None of them had any idea how wrong it could go.

~~~

That night, Simon laid tangled with Johnny as a familiar pit of dread grew in his stomach.

It seemed like no matter what he did, he would always be high-strung whenever Johnny was sent out into the field. Perhaps it wasn’t fair to the other man – he was just as capable of taking care of himself as Ghost was – but he couldn’t help the concern. The… fear.

He feared for Johnny, every time he stepped out of his line of sight. Every time that he couldn’t be there to protect his partner, the man that he loved.

This was the life that they had both chosen, and perhaps Simon truly didn’t know how to be anything but a soldier after all these years. But that didn’t stop him from wanting to hold onto the dreams carefully kept tucked under his ribcage.

It didn’t stop him from thinking, sometimes, that Soap would make a good husband one day. Away from the blood and gore of this world, and safely wrapped in the life of a civilian.

With a sigh he pressed a lingering kiss to the top of the Scot’s head, listening to the slow rhythm of his sleeping breaths. 

He hadn’t been religious in years, but he still sent out a little prayer to the universe, hoping that some higher power would keep his Johnny safe.

After a moment of hesitation, he spared a moment for König as well.

~~~

The mission was going well, all in all.

König was the one to lead the charge, just like he usually was. Working as a living battering ram, crashing through doors and clearing rooms as if it was child’s play. And perhaps it was, to a point, as the man was able to do all that without so much as a bruise for the most part. Any damage he did take must have been healed up any other time Ghost checked up on him, at least.

It seemed no different this time around. If anything, König was even more feral – Ghost could see the moments where his inhuman strength got away from him in the aftermath that he passed as he followed the man.

Blood splattered the walls, bodies laid strewn about and broken in ways that made even him feel… uncomfortable.

He was starting to wonder how the man was keeping himself sane around all the blood while he was so starved, when he realized that König had disappeared.

Ghost hadn’t exactly been keeping him in his view the entire time, but the shouts and screams that hailed the man’s passage had all but stopped. Instead it left an uneasy silence behind in the building that they had been sent to clear, broken only by the distant popping of gunfire from other teams.

It made the dread that was constantly curling in his gut to drop further, heavier.

“König?” He called carefully, thumbing over his radio. The rooms around him had already been cleared, the Austrian had nearly raced ahead of him in a rush of bloodlust. It left the building quiet, and Ghost wound up like a spring ready to break.

One room, another, and he finally caught the low sound of… something. A whimper, perhaps. It was weak, but it was a hint of some sort.

Ghost had his hunch, though perhaps he shouldn’t have followed it.

The moment he stepped in, he was greeted by a mess of a scene. It looked like the room was some sort of office, a desk shoved out of the way on one side – he guessed that it would be almost luxurious among the compound that they were raiding, if not for the blood and bodies.

One man was laid out over the desk, back obviously broken. Another body laid on its side almost in the middle of the room, face an indecipherable mash of blood and bone pieces. A puddle of blood, clearly smeared by a large hand, a familiar hood discarded beside it.

And the man himself, crouched over a third body, nearly straddling his victim.

Ghost peeked out of the door to make sure no one was immediately in the vicinity and grit his teeth. “König, this isn’t the time-”

He was cut off by a sudden growl ripping through the room and froze as the vampire in front of him whipped around to meet his eyes.

For a moment he was frozen in place as he saw König’s eyes nearly glowing red, face and mouth splattered and dripping with blood, twisted into a vicious snarl.

There was no recognition in his gaze, and for the first time in a long while Ghost felt a flutter of fear that wasn’t for Soap. Left staring damn near into the maw of a predator, he couldn’t help it.

“König, stand down,” he ordered, keeping his voice steady regardless of his nerves. “We have to move.”

The rumbling growl that echoed through the room only continued. Steady, insistent, making the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Slowly, the vampire turned towards Ghost. Licked his lips as he seemed to scent the air.

Ghost knew where this went.

In a blur, the vampire lunged.

The Brit was sent tumbling backwards with a shout, his rifle immediately spinning out of his grasp as he went down. He knew that König was feral at the moment, out of control, but there seemed to be some hint of the man behind the rampant bloodlust. Ghost wasn’t dead immediately, at least.

Still, one large hand clamped around his wrist and held it down. The other Ghost was able to shove at König’s neck to keep him from biting at his throat.

All the strength that the vampire above him had hidden from him during training was shown in a moment, as blood-laced breath washed over him. Ghost felt König’s throat vibrate with his growl, teeth snapping barely a hair’s breadth from his chin as he tried again.

“König! Stand-” He grunted with effort, his limbs shaking with the effort of keeping König off him. At least he had the advantage of only having to hold off the vampire’s weight as he was pressed into the floor. “Stand down!”

Another snap of teeth, another feral snarl, and he tried wiggling his wrist out of the vampire’s grip. No luck there, but he was able to flex just enough to brush the grip of his sidearm.

Then a hand settled over his throat. And squeezed.

Immediately Ghost could feel his air being cut off entirely, choking as he flailed. The vampire’s growl from above him turned into what he could almost imagine was a purr , and his strength faltered.

It was only a second, but it was ample time for sharp fangs to pierce through cloth and skin, burying themselves into the juncture between neck and shoulder. Pain lit up in the area, and if Ghost had the air for it he would have screamed with it – as it was, he could only afford a buck of his body. Nowhere near enough to dislodge the vampire, but just enough to get his sidearm into his hand.

He couldn’t aim properly, couldn’t entirely make sure that he wasn’t about to shoot himself, but he got it tilted as best he could as his vision started going blurry and black dots started appearing-

The sound of the gunshot was followed immediately by a pathetic whine.

Ghost took in a full breath before he was sent into a coughing fit, nearly retching with the pain that came with it. König scrambled backwards, through the puddle of blood that had been left from one of the poor bastards in the room, clutching his abdomen. He couldn’t tell where the other man’s mental state was at, too busy trying to get a proper breath back in his lungs without coughing it back out, he couldn’t tell if he should get ready for another lunge or if he was safe with the predator-

And then- and then it felt like the world stopped moving.

The adrenaline rush faded, heartbeat slowing in his ears, and distantly Ghost was reminded of whatever venom König had in his bite. A certain sort of panic set in, though it was almost like hearing music through a wall; muffled and half-incomprehensible.

A hand landed on his shoulder and Ghost twitched almost a full second after, reflexes severely slowed.

"Ghost? I- can you- are you okay?"

The words felt- slippery, both his understanding of them and the way they seemed to be actively escaping his grasp.

“The bite,” he whispered, voice shot to hell. “I…”

“Scheiße-” König’s face crumpled, eyes going wide and glassy, as if he was going to start crying.

Then he shuffled closer, Ghost attempting to push himself away. He wasn’t afraid of the man now, whatever the fuck was in his system wouldn’t allow him to be afraid of the advancing vampire, but his logic was still intact enough to want to maintain the distance between them.

But König pressed closer, a quiet purring stuttering up his throat as he reached for Ghost. It wasn’t the soft sound he had heard weeks ago in the rec room – this was rougher, forced, clearly hesitant.

A hand brushed over his cloth-covered cheek, and the contact soothed something in Ghost against his will.

“Just let it pass, I- I will make sure we’re safe here,” König whispered, his breath nearly wheezing out of him.

And for the moment, Ghost had no choice but to follow his directions.

König shuffled closer to the door without quite breaking physical contact and watched the outside for enemies, as Ghost’s eyes fluttered closed.

He just had to wait out the venom in his system, and then they could finish the mission.

Then he could get the fuck away from the vampire holding either side of his head like he was some porcelain doll.

Chapter Text

Soap eventually found him already ready to strap into a seat on the plane they’d be flying back to base on. Ghost noted the way he moved with a slight limp, and the bloody scrapes on the knuckles of his right hand, but otherwise he didn’t seem broken.

“Lt? You good?”

The question was simple, but after the adrenaline rush that came with having his life nearly squeezed out of him by a feral teammate, he was tired. Exhausted, really. He couldn’t have bothered with anything more than a nod, even if his throat didn’t feel like it had actually been crushed.

He allowed himself a brief moment of respite, leaning his head forward until it met the bulletproof plate of Johnny’s tac-vest over his stomach. The hard cover of his mask thudded against it and bit into his forehead a little, but he couldn’t care less. The way that Johnny rested a hand over the back of his skull and cradled his head for just long enough eased some of the tension that had remained in his body.

Then Soap moved away, just as he was starting to feel twitchy from the PDA. As much as he needed the affection, there were too many eyes around them from other soldiers filing into their transport for him to be able to get comfortable.

It was about that time that Soap seemed to realize that König was missing. That he'd gone out to finally feed, alone. When he had both of them, something that had become almost unheard of in the months since they found out the man was a vampire.

"Where's König?"

Ghost gave a shrug, and Soap frowned slightly. Still, he didn't push for a verbal answer, just patting his shoulder before stepping away.

"I'm gonnae find him-"

"Johnny," he rasped, reaching out to catch the Scot’s hand.

He didn’t know how to feel about König at the moment. Logically he knew that the vampire was just as safe to be around as he ever was, especially now that he had fed. But still, he couldn’t get over the feeling of a hand curling around his throat, a heavy body pressing him into the ground until he was left entirely vulnerable.

Now he would just have to deal with the memory of that, knowing that his own teammate had nearly come closer to killing him than the vast majority of their enemies.

For a few seconds, Johny simply stared at him before slowly settling into the seat that Ghost had saved him. “What happened?” 

Ghost just shook his head. He pressed his knee to his partner’s, crossed his arms over his chest, and leaned back in his seat to wait for them to head back to base.

Christ, he really needed a cup of tea for his throat.

~~~

Once they got back, Ghost excused himself to go back to his own room. Perhaps it was a bit unfair of him to leave the others to take care of the debrief, but he’d get his own report written down and sent in soon enough. For now he just wanted to have some time to himself.

Stepping into his room, he made a bee-line for the door of his bathroom, pulling off his mask as he went. Tac vest and his gear were soon to follow, and he set those down against the wall before he flicked the light on and went to the mirror.

Seeing his own face was… strange. Sometimes he didn’t recognize himself, when it had been too long, when his hair grew out too long. The effect had gotten better when Johnny had started to encourage him to go without it when it was the two of them. Then he had reason to look in the mirror, as Johnny shaved in the mornings they spent together, catching glances at the two of them standing together as they stripped down for showers.

This time around it was in that hazy, half-familiar place, where he knew that he was staring at himself but couldn’t quite put the disjointed pieces together.

But he wasn’t focused on that; instead it was on the bruises ringed around his neck, the reddened bite mark in the crook of his neck.

Evidence of what König was capable of when he went feral.

With a sigh he stripped out of the rest of his clothes. At least the bite had closed up quickly – from his very limited experiences thus far, the bites that König left seemed to heal at an unprecedented rate. Outside of the vulnerability of being left weak and drugged up, the vampire didn’t actually seem too dangerous unless he wanted to be, or was starved.

Still, it didn’t entirely settle the nerves he felt.

He stood with his head dipped under the spray of water until it started going cold. It was about then that he started feeling bad about leaving Johnny with all the work of debriefing. Maybe he could make it up to the man later, if he’d let him.

Stepping out of the shower, he scrubbed a towel over his hair. His mask was replaced with one without the hard shell, and he dressed down in some soft sweatpants and a shirt that he’d had for years.

Then he set out for the kitchen, intent on hunting down some tea. Every time he swallowed dryly he could feel his throat light up with pain, and he was getting tired of it if he was honest.

He wasn’t expecting to run into both Johnny and König as they exited the room he was aiming for – the sergeant with a steaming mug of tea in hand.

“Oh, Lt,” Johnny gave him a weary smile and offered up the mug, which he took gratefully. A step behind him König started to shift uncomfortably, eyes absolutely refusing to meet Ghost’s. “König… told me what happened. Ye doing okay? I don’t need tae drag you to medical, do I?”

Ghost took a sip from the mug and gave a long exhale at the relief. It wouldn’t fix everything, but a warm cuppa never hurt anything. “I’m fine,” he ground out with a slight wince that was echoed by König’s own twitch. “Throat’s fucked, is all.”

Johnny reached up and brushed a thumb high over his cheekbone. “If you’re sure, Si. I’m just gonnae drop König off at his door, then I’ll meet you at yours?”

Reluctantly, he nodded. The thought of knowingly leaving his sergeant with the vampire made his nerves prickle uncomfortably, but he forced the feeling down. König had earned his way into the 141, Ghost wasn’t going to compromise the team just because of one instance. No matter how close of a call it was, there was no reason to be so wary around the man. He didn’t deserve that treatment, much less for something that he couldn’t control.

Thankfully, it seemed like Johnny understood what he was thinking. He felt Simon standing just inside the kitchen, stepping out with König on his heels and the giant slumping over as if it would hide his giant frame.

The door clicked shut and Ghost gave another sigh.

~~~

It started, as always, with little things.

A barely-there flinch, a faint tremor in his hands when König got too close.

Standing together with just a touch too much distance between them.

The lack of a giant coming to join them for lunch.

For as much as Ghost’s wariness of the man had skyrocketed again, König was also avoiding them as much as he could afford.

It never showed in their work on the field, nor did it during on-base exercises, but Ghost could feel the tension between them growing taut, just waiting to snap like a worn thread. What that snap would entail, he wasn’t sure, but he really wasn’t looking forward to it.

At the moment, the only time that König willingly spent around them was for the moments where Johnny let him feed from him.

Now more than ever, those feeding sessions made Ghost’s skin crawl.

He could still remember the feeling of König’s fangs burying themselves into his neck, the pain that had exploded in him before whatever venom the vampire had kicked in. He couldn’t imagine why Soap would continue to offer himself up in between the lulls of missions.

When he asked though, he was given a shrug.

“I trust him,” was Johnny’s answer. Just the second feeding since König had his break, and like a repeat of the first time Ghost had stood over the two men and watched as König drank and gently licked up the sergeant’s blood before the bite stopped oozing. “I know ye donnae ken what tae do right now, but he still needs some help.”

And Ghost could… accept that. Mostly. It still made him feel uneasy, but he couldn’t stop Johnny from doing what he could for König. So he stood and watched, time after time, as König fed on his partner.

~~~

König always stayed close after feeding. The first few times he simply hovered close to Soap as the sergeant settled on the man’s bed, not quite close enough to touch but surely close enough to feel the man’s warmth.

Then he started leaving a hand on Johnny. On a shoulder, wrapped around the Scot’s ankle, fingertips barely grazing over whatever he was allowed to touch.

It made Ghost think of the way the vampire had held him close, even half-feral and still clearly starving. Cradling his head in his hands, thumbs brushing over the bottom edge of the hard shell of his mask.

He wasn’t ready to ask questions, not yet, but the next time König fed he held out a hand before the man could slide a more appropriate distance away from Johnny.

“You want to hold him?”

König stared up at him with wide, shocked eyes – completely green, well-fed and sated, clearly no threat to either him or Johnny.

When no answer was forthcoming, he tried again. “Do you want to lay next to him while he comes down, König?”

At that, he got a slow nod. “I-if you are alright with that, Lieutenant,” he whispered, voice barely there.

Ghost just nodded. “Just until he comes down again.”

With that, König shifted back up the bed until his head was level with Johnny’s chest. A few inches still separated them, at first, until a drugged-up Johnny rolled over to lazily thread his fingers into the Austrian’s hair and the man seemed to absolutely crumble.

Ghost ignored that feeling of familiarity that he got at the motion and pulled out the desk chair to wait it out.

~~~

At some point, he found himself almost missing the vampire’s presence.

He realized with some strange twist in his gut that he had gotten used to having König around. The pressure of having someone hovering over his shoulder, the quiet snark that he heard muttered just loud enough for only him to hear it.

Lunches felt… too quiet, without the sound of both Soap and König. He had gotten used to hearing the way that they bounced off each other in conversation, especially when one or the other was excited about something.

He realized, fearfully, that he did care for the man.

More than he had realized, even after Johnny’s prodding.

He didn’t know what to do about that fact.

~~~

What he did know was the fact that the snapping of that worn thread between them meant both everything and nothing at all.

It meant Johnny shaking his head when he asked about König, it meant watching the man keep his head down and shoulders bowed over himself from a distance.

Despite it being a slow change, it felt like a terribly sudden realization.

He had stopped talking to the both of them entirely, and it seemed like everything was sliding back to square one. Back to what he was like before he had joined their team, all nerves and whispers instead of sly grins and quiet laughs.

Suddenly König seemed more like a ghost than the man himself.

~~~

Things came to a head when Gaz pulled him aside, brows pulled together.

“What happened between you guys and König?”

Ghost paused at that, feeling his chest seize – he had done his best to keep things quiet between them, but of course König’s behavior would become obvious to Price and Gaz at some point. “It’s… personal.”

“Okay… I get that, you know I do,” Gaz said, lips twisting in displeasure. “But whatever it is, you need to work it out with him.”

“This hasn’t been affecting anything on the field, I don’t see why-”

“Fuck, man, I know! I’m not your superior officer, I don’t care about that as long as we can keep each other alive!” The sergeant waved a hand before settling. “I just- I think I heard König talking with Price. I think he was asking after a transfer.”

In moments, Ghost could feel his blood turn to ice. Gaz kept talking though, and it was all he could do to stand there and keep up with the words.

“I don’t know if he’d be able to get one, since he’s still technically not military- but if he’s asking, I don’t think that the military would want to let go of him. I just- you need to get your head out of your ass and figure out whatever this shit is between you three. Respectfully. Sir.”

The last two words were obviously tacked on as a series of afterthoughts, an effort to lessen the harshness of the younger man’s assessment, but Ghost couldn’t care.

Gaz was right, obviously.

He hadn’t expected the news of König’s potential departure to hurt so much. After the weeks of barely being able to be around the man, he would have expected it to be somewhat of a relief. He would be done with the crawling thoughts of König going feral again, and he would have Johnny’s time and attention back on him again.

“Yeah,” he murmured. “I’ll talk to you later, Garrick.”

The feeling that filled his lungs as he turned away felt much more like heartbreak than relief.

~~~

The problem with trying to find a severely introverted vampire, is the fact that they can apparently disappear.

Ghost prided himself on knowing all the nooks and hidden corners of the base, but it seemed as if König had found some new hiding spots.

With the urgency of a potential transfer looming over him, Ghost felt himself only become more frantic than ever to find the man.

~~~

“He’s trying to leave, Johnny,” he whispered into the man’s hair, where Soap had stopped him in his pacing. “Gaz said that he was looking for a transfer.”

There was a long moment of silence as the words took root and comprehension dawned on the Scot. Simon watched his expression fall from lightly amused concern to something hurt.

“Oh,” Johnny whispered, his voice small. He sounded even more heartbroken than Simon felt – he had to remind himself that the Scot had been the one to initiate their interest in the Austrian. Of course he had been pining all this time, only to find out that König was trying to run from them. “We should- we should talk to him, maybe he… I dinnae want him to leave, Si.”

Simon hummed, leaning in to press a kiss to the man’s lips. “Johnny…”

“I’m just saying,” he said with a miserable excuse for a laugh.

“I know. We will, we just need to actually get him to stop avoiding us.”

That made the Scot pause, eyes shuttering with something aching with hurt. “He has been, hasn’t he? Avoidin’ us.”

“As if you haven’t noticed.”

“Ah’ ken- I just… don’t want to force the man into anything,” Johnny murmured, his voice trailing off. Tears almost started welling in his eyes, and Simon watched as all his own heartbreak flickered across the other’s face. “What if he donnae want to stay at all? If he donnae feel the same, what then?”

Simon felt the corner of his lips twitch up in a humorless smile. “I doubt that he doesn’t feel anything for you. Were you this hopeless with me, love?”

Johnny just made a miserable noise, letting Simon pull his nose in against his throat until his voice turned muffled. “... at least ye weren’t actively runnin’ from me.”

He huffed and acquiesced at that. Even if things between the two of them had been confusing and rough at the start, Simon had never tried to transfer to another squad. For now, he just pressed his face to Johnny’s hair and held him close.

~~~

As much as he had promised himself that he would talk to König as soon as he could, the man’s constant ability to avoid both him and Johnny well and truly ruined that plan.

Slowly, he was starting to lose hope. He knew that if König really wanted it, Price would keep things quiet about a transfer – he was lucky that Gaz had mentioned it to him. Otherwise Price would have just shrugged him off until the man was already gone.

As it was, he didn’t know how to catch the man for long enough to work things out. The only time that he really saw König was during missions, and even those were short-lived and rough enough that they all got some shut-eye as soon as they reached the safehouse before getting shipped back to base.

He didn’t know how to fix things, didn’t know how to tie the worn thread together again.

~~~

For a while, König was almost the only thing that he could think about in his free time. He didn’t know how to ease up the knot in his throat that only seemed to be soothed by Johnny’s presence.

It felt like he was grieving the loss of something that he hadn’t truly had.

That changed when Johnny started bleeding.

~~~

It was the middle of a mission, something easier than the shit that they had been getting put through recently. Something stealthy, nothing that had the fate of the world balanced on it, but it was near enough to hve the 141 put on it.

Ghost was on overwatch once more, keeping his eyes on Johnny through his scope for most of the mission. Leading him through buildings best he could, away from enemy patrols, keeping the banter between them light. 

It was on Johnny’s return trip that he nearly had a heart attack.

“Ach, what the fuck?”

Shifting his gaze from the space behind Johnny to the man himself, he felt his gut clench seeing the way blood was pouring down his face. “Johnny? What happened?”

“I dinnae ken?? Got to the top of this hill and my nose started bleedin’. I’m no’ hit if that’s what yer worried about, Si.”

“You’re sure?”

“Sure as anything, Lt. I’ll meet you in just a minute.”

~~~

Ghost assumed that it was just a random occurrence, one of those out-of-the-blue nosebleeds that come with too-dry weather or something.

Then he watched as Johnny sat down in the mess hall next to Gaz, sniffed, and started bleeding.

“Fuckin hell, what the fuck!” He cupped a hand under his face in an attempt to save his food, face scrunching up in distaste. “Again??”

“Again?” Gaz reached over to grab a wad of napkins for the other sergeant to mop up the blood with, and Ghost frowned tightly under his mask.

Soap let out a groan and tilted his head back – only for Gaz to put a finger to the back of his skull and force him forward again. “Started spoutin’ blood on our way back from our last mission. Dinnae what’s causing it, but it’s fuckin annoying.”

Gaz hummed, frowning. “You should probably get that checked out in medical if it keeps happening.”

“Aye, I will.”

At that, Gaz rolled his eyes at Ghost. They both knew that the Scot wouldn’t, not unless he was forced to.

~~~

Unfortunately, it ended up being Price who ordered Johnny down to medical.

The nosebleeds kept happening – coming out of nowhere and leaving Johnny fuming and having to use whatever tissues or fabric was closest to keep from leaving him looking like a murder scene.

Blood was drawn and tests were taken, but no concrete answer seemed to be forthcoming.

“You have an increased amount of red blood cells,” the nurse explained, brows furrowed. “We can’t really conclude anything without further testing, but…”

“But what?” Johnny sat with his elbows resting on his knees, looking miserable. “What’s the theory?”

The nurse just shook her head and stood from where she had been typing on her computer. “I’m sure that it’s nothing to worry about. For now, we can draw blood every two weeks to keep you steady, and the nosebleeds should stop. Since we’ve already drawn a bit for testing, we’lll start two weeks from now.”

With a sigh, Johnny slid from his seat and Ghost stood from the corner. “Aye, I’ll be back then.”

~~~

Later, Johnny tangled himself with Simon’s limbs and pressed his face into the Brit’s shoulder, and brought up an idea.

“So…”

“Can your next hare-brained idea not wait until morning?”

“Fuck off,” the sergeant said with a chuckle, and a kiss against bare skin. “I was just thinking. If I have too much blood, and we have a vampire…”

Simon snorted quietly and had to shift just barely to press a kiss to Johnny’s shoulder in return. "And? We have a vampire that's annoyingly good at hiding, I doubt that he'll get close just because we suddenly…"

Johnny hummed and kissed him again as his voice trailed off. "Ye ken he's more likely to get close again cause we need him to."

That fact hurt, as true as it was. It plucked at Simon's chest with a deep, gentle sting.

It felt like he had ruined things with the Austrian. Whatever friendship, whatever budding something that he'd been slowly coaxing into existence, had been stomped out by his own fear. It didn’t matter how founded and valid that fear was after having König attack him – it was always fear driving him away from others.

Simon felt the thought settle heavy in his stomach with all the weight of his guilt.

“I’ll get Price to send him our way tomorrow.”

Johnny nodded against him and nestled somehow closer against his skin, and Simon held him until the Scot slipped into sleep.

~~~

It was both frustrating and painful to know that getting König to stop avoiding them was as simple as ordering the man into his office. Through Price of course, because Ghost still hadn’t been able to track the damn vampire down to even give the order.

But he was here now, towering above his desk at something that was almost parade rest, not meeting his eyes.

“Sir?”

Ghost realized that he had been staring for a few moments too long. He should probably look away, but a little voice in his mind whispered that he couldn’t look away from the predator in the room lest it pounce.

A smaller, even quieter voice breathed that König was nice to look at, even with the hood.

He cast both thoughts away and breathed out a sigh. “At ease, König. You’re not in trouble for anything.”

At that, the Austrian gave a softly curious noise and just barely tilted his head. “Then…?”

“I’m sure you’ve noticed Soap’s frequent nosebleeds recently?”

König blinked and Ghost swore he saw a flicker of red – he wasn’t sure how long it had been since the last time the man fed, he’d retreated so far that he wasn’t able to keep an eye on such things.

“Ja, I’ve noticed.”

Ghost frowned slightly and leaned forward. “Doctors said that he has… too much blood. Forcing his blood pressure up or something, making his blood thicker – we just thought that you could help with something like that.”

“You… are you inviting me to feed from him?” König’s voice seemed shaky at that, and Ghost slowed down.

He chose his words carefully, unsure of where König’s reluctance was coming from. “Every couple of weeks or so, yes. Just to keep him from bursting like he had been, understand?”

The vampire nodded vehemently, one hand clenching into a tight fist with the creaking of well-worn leather. “Yes- yes sir.”

Silence settled between them for a long moment, as Ghost did his best to search König’s eyes for any hint as to what he was feeling. The anxiety was almost a given – but what exactly caused it was hard to get a handle on.

Did he not want to feed from Johnny? Or did he feel nervous about getting close to them again? Was he being too forceful about the request?

He sighed, eyes closing for just a second before looking back up at König. "You don't have to, if you don't want to. But I thought it would be… mutually beneficial."

“And… Soap?”

“He was the one to suggest it.”

König looked- hesitant, is the only word that Ghost could describe it as. Scared, almost.

“Alright, Lieutenant.”

~~~

The first few times that König fed from Johnny after that, the man didn’t stick around.

He came to Ghost’s room, knelt at the sergeant’s feet with a reverence that was almost religious, and was scurrying out the door again as soon as the bite at his wrist stopped bleeding and his hood was back in place.

It was entirely different from the way that the vampire had seemed to cling to Johnny before.

Ghost could still see the longing in König’s eyes, though. The way that he hesitated for just a moment before rising from his knees, looking up at Johnny like he was all the air that the man needed to breathe.

Then he would turn and flinch as he met Ghost’s eyes before scrambling up to his feet.

It… hurt.

That bone-deep pluck of gentle pain that came with König being afraid of him.

Not to mention, the vampire’s absence seemed to upset Johnny when he was still floating in the high that the bite left him in. Despite Ghost sitting with him and providing the physical touch that he was starting to suspect was supposed to come with the bite, the sergeant squirmed and pouted. It was like the man couldn’t get entirely comfortable unless he was with or at least near König.

He had to change something.

~~~

It started with moving closer.

Just a step or two, closing the distance between him and König as he fed.

The first time he did so, it seemed to only expedite the feeding process – the Austrian was up and out of the room in record time.

But as he continued, König seemed to catch onto it. By the time that Ghost was able to stand beside him, the vampire didn’t seem to mind his closeness outside of a heartbreakingly wary glance upwards before he bit into Johnny.

Then he placed a hand on the back of König’s neck.

He felt the way the man trembled, a broken purr starting up in his throat. It sounded wrong, rough, more like the sound that Ghost remembered from the vampire’s feral moment – but it died out with a whimper when König pulled away from Johnny.

Ghost repeated it, stubbornly, and next time the man remained quiet and still.

König didn’t stay in the room with them though, even still.

~~~

“What are those from, Soap?” Gaz pointed a fork at the sergeant’s wrist, where scar tissue had been forming where König had been continually biting him.

“Huh?” Soap lifted his arm, and Ghost watched as he tried to come up with an excuse. “Oh, got bit by some stray dog – haud yer wheesht, I already got it checked out by medical, just been pickin’ at the scabs. Bad habit from when I was a wee one.”

Price huffed as he sat down across from Ghost. “Keep it wrapped up until it heals completely then. Hard to pick if it’s not exposed.”

Soap groaned, and out of the corner of his eye Ghost could see König flinch from the next table over in the mess hall.

~~~

After some discussion, they decided to move where König bit. Perhaps it should have happened sooner, and it would have if their teammates had wizened up to the bandages that seemed to live around Soap’s wrist for the last few months.

But now König had started to feed from Soap more often – two weeks turned into a week and a half when Johnny started having his nosebleeds again, and then a week and a half shorted down to just a week.

It all led them to this – Johnny shirtless, sitting on Ghost’s bed while König placed his shaking hands on the other’s shoulders.

Ghost watched as König gently bit into the Scot’s shoulder, letting the numbing effect take hold before his fangs sank deeper. Then they released, allowing the blood to flow.

When the vampire was done and tried to pull away, Ghost simply pushed König closer again. Gentle, but insistent – leading him to lay his head on Johnny’s shoulder.

“Relax, König. You don’t have anywhere to be, just… stay put for a few.”

The vampire twisted just slightly, as Johnny wrapped his arms around him. His expression was terribly open, terribly hurt and hopeful all at once.

When Johnny left a half-hazy kiss against the man’s hair, he watched in real time as König broke.

His eyes closed, brows furrowing together as sudden tears sprang up. His body nearly went limp, even as his hands squeezed Johnny’s shoulder. A gentle whimper fell from him, a breathless pause before König sobbed against the sergeant.

In return, Johnny let out a quiet coo. He was still drugged up and loopy, but the man held König close to himself and ran a hand through the Austrian’s hair in wordless comfort.

“Es tut mir leid,” pressed into Johnny’s collar with a helpless keening noise. Tears gathered and fell from the vampire’s eyes and Ghost was lost for words. “I did- I did not mean to hurt you, I just- I did not want to hurt you, I am so sorry-”

“König,” he murmured, the thumb resting against where the man’s pulse point would be brushing back and forth in an effort to soothe him. Ghost didn’t do comfort like this, it didn’t come naturally to him. But he could at least state facts, try to convince the man to believe in that. “It’s not your fault. I know you couldn’t control it.”

“I should have,” he whispered in return, hiccuping with sobs. “I hurt you, I should be able to control my appetite, starving should not make me dangerous- especially not to you.”

Ghost just sighed and maintained the physical contact that he had with the vampire. He… he would have time to convince König of his side. “It wasn’t your fault. You didn’t hurt me, König.”

A retort was clearly on the tip of the other man’s tongue, but Ghost just squeezed the back of his neck like a disobedient kitten and watched as König melted underneath the ministrations.

“That’s it, just relax for me. Johnny doesn’t settle well without you.”

He continued muttering quiet reassurances that came to him, until Johnny’s hand came up to thread through his fingers against König’s neck.

It was only then that he realized that the vampire was asleep.

Still with tears on his face, hair messily splayed over the sergeant’s chest, but at peace for the moment.

~~~

“Hey König,” Johnny gave the quiet greeting, when ‘feeding time’ came around once more. Stepping back to let the giant in, Ghost watching from his desk chair to watch the way the man picked at the edge of his hood.

A few moments of silence fell between the three of them, as Johnny sat on the edge of the bed like he usually did.

When König didn’t move though, Ghost spoke up.

“What’s wrong?”

Green eyes flickered up to meet his gaze for half a second, before looking back down. Silence stretched on for several more moments.

“König-” John tried to speak up as well, before the man himself interrupted.

“I don’t- I do not know where I… what am I? To you? To both of you?”

Ghost glanced over to Johnny, who was staring at the vampire with wide-eyed surprise, affection running in undercurrents through his expression.

With a sigh, he stood and stepped closer to the bed. König stiffened as he approached, but relaxed marginally when he dropped down to sit beside his partner.

“We haven’t talked about it… in a while,” he admitted. He figured that as fragile as the situation was, honesty would be the best course of action. “Since before you went feral.”

König seemed startled, flustered – surprised for someone who came in just to ask for answers. “Oh,” he breathed, hands visibly shaking. Ghost wondered if his entire body was shuddering.

Johnny glanced at him, surprised for an entirely different reason. “I just… asked.”

“You want him to join us?” His hand came to rest on the sergeant’s thigh. He took comfort in the warmth of the man sitting next to him, laying out the question for all of them.

König was going suddenly and entirely still where he stood, as John’s brows furrowed together.

The sergeant glanced between Simon and the vampire in the room, twisting his body to face his partner. “If ye don’t want this, Si-”

“I want you to be happy, Johnny,” he said quietly.

“That doesn’t mean that ye want it, though.”

Simon glanced up at König – stared, perhaps, for a little longer than necessary. But he had to think, bare himself to the thought of letting someone in properly. No hesitant hands reaching through walls of defensive posturing and fear responses.

It was hard. It was terrifying even thinking about it, but…

It felt like the thrill of dropping out of a plane at altitude. The gut-wrenching feel of seeing the ground closing in, praying that even with a parachute your legs wouldn’t break upon impact.

Trusting that your training would carry you through well enough.

“You know I have my hangups, love.” He was still looking at König, only shifting his gaze back to Johnny when the sergeant took his hand. “You know it’s not easy. But I can always try.”

Johnny squeezed his hand with a look that was terrifyingly soft and understanding. What Simon had done to deserve that kind of consideration, he wasn’t sure.

“So? König?” Ghost turned his attention back towards the vampire.

At this point it almost seemed like the man was vibrating where he stood, like a shaken can of soda just under his skin.

“Ja? Sir?”

“M’ not ‘sir’ here, König. Would you be interested in a relationship?”

“With… both of you?”

“If you want,” he answered slowly. Honestly he wasn’t sure what he would do if König only wanted Johnny. “I can’t promise that I’m the most… open.”

König nodded and glanced down just to take a step closer. “I… I understand. I would- I think I would like that.”

Ghost hummed, and saw Johnny’s delighted grin start growing over the Scot’s face as the words sank in. “Well. Let’s get you fed, and then we can talk details when you and Johnny come out of it again.”

Tugging off the hood, König gave a grateful little smile and sank to his knees before both of them.

When he leaned forward to dig his teeth into Soap’s skin, he swore he didn’t imagine the brush of a kiss that came before.

~~~

Somehow, Ghost had almost forgotten what it was like to have a nearly seven-foot giant shadowing him everywhere throughout the base. The way that König seemed to always be two steps behind him, or idly trailing behind Soap.

Just days after their talk and subsequent relationship shift, and König seemed to be opening up to them once more.

It was a relief, more than Ghost honestly expected.

After all the time spent with the vampire avoiding them, having him slot back in beside the two of them felt like regaining a lost puzzle piece, though there were still some things for them to figure out and settle into.

“It’s good to see you figured things out with König,” Gaz mentioned at some point, watching as Soap practically crawled into the Austrian’s lap to get the phone that the taller man was holding away from him.

Ghost nodded quietly. It was good to see König come out of his shell once more – the dull pain of knowing that he was the cause of the taller man’s misery still stung, but it faded quickly enough.

Gaz smiled for a few moments before his expression shifted more into a smirk. “So, are you three-?”

“How much do you value your legs, sergeant?”

“Quite a bit, sir,” the man said, clearly trying to suppress his chuckle. “I’m happy for you.”

“Mmh.”

It was only when Gaz walked away to play a game of hot potato with Soap’s phone that Ghost allowed himself to smile.

~~~

Quiet nights held a certain sanctity; fleeting halcyon moments that stripped the soul bare and left trembling vulnerability open to the air.

Cold hands framed Simon’s face, cold lips trembling as they brushed the space between blonde brows.

“Klaus. Please, call me Klaus.”