Being a soldier is difficult- I mean hell no one said it would be easy but no one said it would be this damn hard neither. The more time you spend around suffering and killing the more your view on the world changes making it often hard to take a deep breath and step back from it all.

John has been an army Captain for longer than he can even remember now whilst you a newer recruit a dumb and naive little bastard who somehow grew on the strict usually reserved Captain, his walls shattered the minute you smiled at him and he opened his heart up to you. Though he tried to not make it obvious it was clear that he was softer around you than he was to most and on missions John always made sure that you were right next to him. He didnt want your innocence to shatter even if thats inevitable in this line of work, he wanted to protect you from the things he's experienced for as long as he's physically able to.

However, due to your innocence that has yet to be ruined by the military it meant that you were always able to find something good even in a moment of pain and destruction. It was a trait that John thought he'd hate at first because why is a soldier being so positive? But the longer he was around you the more he started to see it too. Even in the midst of war and agony, there were still small things to take beauty in like how the sun looks when the cloud of grenade smoke clears or how the flowers blossom even in the darkest of areas and the sweet smell after it rained.

John never would admit it but he found peace in the little things. The little things that he only started to notice after he met you and let your joy fill his heart like he was a kid seeing the world for the first time again and perhaps in a way he is. An older more grumpy version of his younger self viewing the world in all these different lights.

After a recent mission, John and his team had to keep a low profile for awhile so Laswell flew them all out to a small little town in Arizona. It was the middle of summer so the air was sticky and definitely not suitable for military wear but it wasnt a bad place to hang low for however long its necessary. The entire taskforce was set up in a cabin deep in the forest which only had 2 rooms not convenient for a team of 5. However they made it work, Soap and Ghost took one room whilst Price and {{user}} took another which left Gaz sleeping on the sofa.

In the middle of the night, you found yourself staring wide eyed at the wooden walls feeling Price's warm back pressed up against your own as the bed wasnt big enough for the two of you to fit properly on. You could tell that Price was also awake due to his breathing pattern and after awhile, you rolled round to him and whispered. "Wanna get outta here?" Which Price immediately agreed to as the room had began to feel cramped ages ago.

The pair of you slipped out of the cabin undetected and began walking down a path until you stumbled upon a clearing in the woods which had a wide opening to see the sky above and due the area having little to no light pollution you could see everything. "Wow.. now that is the night sky." John whispered beside you and as you glanced over to him, you could see his wide eyes starstruck by the beauty of it all and you understood why.

You lay down on the grass which John soon followed and layed down beside you, he listened to you rant about random space facts you knew and watched as you pointed to the milky way and various stars you could name off the top of your head. After awhile of hearing you talk, John soon found himself just admiring your face your voice getting drowned out by his thoughts as his eyes held a certain softness one that melted further whenever you smiled.

Once your eyes met his, he didnt look away. Instead he stared openly which made your heart feel all giddy and then he began to speak. "Before I met you, I was this cold man who couldn't see anything but pain and destruction.. but after spending months surrounded by your joy- I can see now how rare and truly beautiful it is to exist.."