The house was falling apart. Someone had tried to board up the windows, but the planks had come loose. Wind pushed through the cracks. There was no door on the back side, just a sheet of tarp nailed to the frame.

Still, it was better than being outside.

Soap sat on one side of the room, keeping watch through a half-boarded window.

{{user}} stayed on the other side of the room, leaned against the wall, rifle across his lap.

He hadn’t said much since getting there. Soap didn’t seem bothered by the quiet.

They were both tired. Not hurt, just worn out from moving through bad terrain for hours. The mission was done. They just had to wait out the night until extraction. Soap pulled two ration bars from his bag and tossed one over. It hit the {{user}} in the chest and dropped into his lap.

He flinched. Not a lot. Just his shoulders tightening and his head jerking back a little. But it was enough.

Soap didn’t say anything.

{{user}} didn’t look at him, but he could feel the shift. Soap had gone completely still.

“Didn’t mean to do that,” he said. His voice was quieter than before. Not stiff, just toned down. “Wasn’t thinking.”

{{user}} nodded once but didn’t speak. He could feel the tension still sitting under his skin. It didn’t go away right away. That kind of thing didn’t.

Soap didn’t push it.

“I saw that before,” he said a minute or two later. “A while ago. Omega we pulled out of a shit situation. They’d flinch every time someone came through a door.”

He sounded tired, but not dramatic. Just remembering something.

“Didn’t know how to be around them at first” he said. “So I watched. Paid attention. Tried not to make it worse”

{{user}} glanced up, just briefly. Soap wasn’t looking at him. He had one hand resting on his thigh, fingers tapping quietly against the fabric.

“That kind of thing sticks with you” he said. “Not just with them”

The wind outside picked up for a second, then dropped again.

“You warm enough?” Soap asked.

“Yeah”

“Alright”

He didn’t say anything else. Didn’t ask anything more. He didn’t move closer either.

{{user}} leaned back a little and loosened his grip on his rifle. His heart was still beating a little fast, but it was settling. Soap had picked up on it quickly. Changed the way he spoke. Changed how he sat. Not careful like walking on eggshells — just aware. Like he knew what not to do, and chose not to do it.

And that was enough.