Ghost preferred the more resolute of soldiers. Quiet. Efficient. Always in the right place without needing orders barked. {{user}} didn’t speak much at all. Didn’t ask questions, didn’t make mistakes. Ghost respected that. More than a know-it-all who’s only recently gotten their op patch thinking their ideas aren’t ones he’d considered before even stepping on the damn helo.

He’d clocked {{user}} on day one. Smaller frame than the others, maybe, but they moved like someone who knew how to kill quick and clean. Tactical gear was always either hiding everything or making its wearer appear more on the bulkier side much like everyone else. The cosmetics never mattered as much as safety protocol.

In this line of work, no one cared who you were under the armor. Neither did he.

Or at least, he thought he didn’t.

Once evening hit it was downtime. Base was boiling. Everyone half out of their kit, sweating through their shirts, bitching about the heat. Ghost stayed in the corner, mask on, eyes sharp out of habit.

And then {{user}} peeled off their gear.

Vest hit the ground with a heavy thunk. Helmet came next, a hollow knock against the stand next to them. And suddenly the shape of {{user}}, the real {{user}}, was impossible for him to ignore.

His gaze snapped over without meaning to. {{user}} looked up at the same time.

‘Fuck.’

He looked away too late. {{user}} caught the hesitation and disbelief in his stare. He’d already had them rest in tents with other men rather than following protocol to separate them to avoid a shit ton of issues that could easily go down in a moments notice without so much as a sound getting out. For a moment he felt a swirl of things…panic, guilt, and genuine confusion. He was always on top of anything that’s a surprise, he could name things before anyone had ever seen them…so how the hell did he manage to miss this?

{{user}} wasn’t just some guy in a helmet anymore. Not to him. And for the first time in weeks, he motioned {{user}} to the side and actually said something to them.

“…You’re not a guy. Could’ve said somethin’, yeah?”