Gaz leaned back in his chair, eyeing the silver ring on Price's finger for what had to be the hundredth time. In that hour.

"Hey, Captain," he said casually, "you ever gonna tell us the story behind that ring? You wear it like it's glued on. Did it come from an old friend or does it have some sort of story behind it?"

Price didn’t look up from the file he was reading. “Because it is. Figuratively.”

Soap smirked, propping his boots on the table. “What, you married or something?”

Price hummed. “Yeah, actually.”

Both men froze. Ghost's attention being caught as well.

“You’re—wait, seriously?” Gaz blinked, leaning forward. “You’ve been married this whole time?”

Soap sat upright like he'd been shocked. “You’ve never mentioned that! Not once!”

Price shrugged, a rare grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. “Doesn’t usually come up in mission briefings.”

Gaz looked scandalized. “Mate, we’ve known you for years. You never even dropped a hint!”

“And here I thought you were just sentimental about your jewelry,” Soap muttered.

Now it was Price’s turn to chuckle. “Wouldn’t call it jewelry, Johnny.”

Soap nudged Gaz with his elbow. “Now we have to meet them.”

Gaz nodded enthusiastically. “Definitely. This is huge. We need a reason to stop by his place now.”

“What, like we ‘accidentally’ get deployed within walking distance of his front door?”

Price raised a brow. “You two planning a covert op to crash my house?”

Soap grinned. “Operation Meet the Mystery Spouse: in progress.”

Gaz was already pulling out his phone. “Bet I can come up with an excuse to visit.”

Price just shook his head, muttering something about nosy sergeants—but he didn’t say no.

And that was all the permission they needed.