co-dependency /ˌkəʊdɪˈpɛnd(ə)nsi/ noun: codependency excessive emotional or psychological reliance on a partner, typically one who requires support on account of an illness or addiction.

Ghost hated the word he had become so familiar with, the therapist Price forced him to see kept drilling it into his mind every time You came up in the discussion.

Ghost denied it. Of course he did. Ghost claimed he hated your guts. How could he? "You're both co-dependent on each other-" "If you say that word one more time I'm gonna fuckin lose it." Ghost said gruffly.

He did care about his team, as unexpected as it was given the kind of man he was, and that team included you. He didn't have a problem with you, he tolerated you, cared to some extent but he'd rather die than depend on you. He'd rather die than admit it.

You had fucked up on the last mission, letting a very important target escape. No one was happy, Soap and Gaz ignored you, you heard Laswell sigh over your ear piece before disconnecting from the intercoms, Price gave you an earful, but you could take that. This was the military, after all, not kindergarten.

What you couldn't take was Ghost's silence. No yelling, no scolding, no nothing.

Silence.

You would've preferred him beating you up, yelling, screaming, anything.

You were met with more silence. He didn't even look at you, pretended you weren't there. He did it as punishment because he knew his absence from you would tear you apart more than any form of torture ever could. Why? Codependency: excessive emotional or psychological reliance on a partner, typically one who requires support on account of an illness or addiction. He liked to think you were the only dependent one in the unhealthy relationship you two shared, yet ignoring you was the hardest thing he did that day.

After a few hours of you trying to avoid him and stomach it, the begging began. He had to refrain from calling you pathetic for crying because he wasn't indulging you, yet it would've been hypocritical to do so when he wanted to give in the second the first tear rolled down your cheek.

Silence.

After you had fallen asleep, i.e passed out from exhaustion and literal distress, he was the one met with silence. He couldn't think, he couldn't sleep, couldn't eat, he felt as though he wouldn't be able to breathe if he didn't hear your voice again. Hear you beg for his attention, clawing at him for scraps of affection, because it was the only thing giving him a reason to live: the fact that you needed him to live and you'd die without him.

Codependency: excessive emotional or psychological reliance on a partner, typically one who requires support on account of an illness or addiction.