#cod: aw

The barracks were bustling with life as the annual Atlas Halloween party started. Some were dressed up in various costumes, enjoying the night before they had to go back to their jobs the next day with a nasty hangover.

Gideon wasn't one of those lucky operatives to get to enjoy such a night. Being a captain had its ups and downs, filling out paperwork during Halloween being one of those downs. While his team got drunk and celebrated the evening, he was sitting in his room. It wouldn't be too bad, though. Mitchell had promised him a bottle of booze, so the night wouldn't be a total loss.

The night was passing by in relative silence; he tuned out the music from the party a while ago, and the most noise he heard was passing conversations and loud footsteps. It was maybe close to midnight when he heard laughing and a knock at his door.

"What?" The door opens, and he sees the familiar faces of Joker and Mitchell, looking drunk as all hell, and... wearing two of his beanies?

"Guess who we're dressed as babe!" Mitchell giggles along with Joker. It's then when Gideon notices the bottle in his boyfriend's hand, presumably the one he promised him.

"I swear, if you say-"

"We're you!" More laughter ensues. Gideon can't help but crack a smile despite himself.

"Fuck me, why?"

"Joker said it'd piss you off" Gideon's as wander over to Joker, who has a shit eating grin on his face. He stands, grabbing the bottle from Mitchell. Polish Vodka, nice.

"Well, aren't you two just so funny, ah?" Mitchell leans in, kissing Gideon's cheek. Joker gags jokingly.

"Ew! Get a fucking room!" Gideon rolls eyes his eyes while Mitchell laughs.

"Alright, you two drunk idiots need to get out, I have work to do." The men groan, and as they turn to leave, Gideon grabs Mitchell's arm and kisses him quickly.

"Yes sir!" He yells as him and Joker leave. Gideon stares at the closed door for a few seconds before returning to his desk, chuckling to himself. He opens the vodka bottle and takes a big swig, then sets it down. It's going to be a long night.

You hustled down the sidewalk, the bustling noise of an active military base surrounding you. The shouts of drill sergeants, the roar of planes, the insistent yammering of voices over the PA system as names were called to offices, and instructions and reminders were disseminated to every soldier on the base. 

But you’d been there long enough to know them all by heart; so you ignored them and pressed on toward the on-base hospital where you worked.

“I don’t know, but I’ve been told—!” The sounds of a platoon marching past in a jog met your ears as you came around the corner. A large group of men dressed in their fatigues was coming up past the hospital, and you wouldn’t have given them a second glance if it weren’t for the eyes of one of them catching you off guard. 

He was covered in sweat and clearly in pain from hours of PT, but in the middle of the 40-some-odd men, he was somehow unavoidable. His gaze was glued to you the moment you turned the corner, his brows knitted in thought at first. But as they approached you, their sergeant still yelling the rhymes at them to keep them moving, his thoughtful, exhausted expression melted into a charming smile. 

You couldn’t help but smile back as he passed you, your pace slowing just a tad. You tried your best not to look back at him, but failed when you heard his sergeant yell, “Mitchell!”

The voice made you turn your head, and you felt a giggle bubble up your throat as you realized he’d looked back to watch you walk away — and broken his cadence in the process. He was commanded to drop and do 20 for slowing the men up, and yet he was smiling as he did.

You had to force yourself into the hospital... the smile on your face refusing to dissipate for the rest of the day.

“Please...” Words whispered into his ear as he burrowed himself into your neck, your fingers clutching his bicep and jaw falling open and body writhing beneath his with every move he made. 

His teeth sinking into your skin stole your breath away, and all you could think about were the words, hold still. 

“Shit—!” he hissed, teeth clenching together and brows furrowed. “Goddamnit—“

“Would you hold still?” you demanded, shaking your head and dabbing the alcohol at the cut on his head. He rolled his eyes and glared across the room at his best friend, with whom he’d stumbled into your dorm just ten minutes before. The two of them had gotten a little too drunk off the base, and you were almost asleep when their fists first rapped on the door. They were lucky the woman who’d been dormed up with you had just been transferred to a base down south. 

“Told you I’d kick your ass,” the exhausted boy behind you grinned as he wiped at the blood dripping from his nose. 

“Shut up, Irons,” Jack grumbled, “You got lucky.”

“You love me, Mitchell, don’t deny it.” The words had Jack shifting to get up, nearly causing you to stab him with the tweezers you were using to pull gravel from the cut. 

“Hey!” you snapped quietly, shoving him down into the mattress by his shoulder, “Both of you, shut up! I have five hours to sleep, you jackasses.” 

“Sorry, Private,” Will said from behind you; you could feel the look on his face and just breathed slowly out, holding Jack’s cheeks in your palms.

“You should be,” you muttered, looking down at Jack’s cut. “Now you — hold. still.” 

Jack was suddenly quiet, his eyes watching you as you softly tended to the wound. As you pulled the pieces of gravel from his skin, the slight pinch here and there causing him to wince, you’d gently tap his cheek and promise him you were nearly done. He’d swallow quietly and bite his lip through it, listening to your words. Trusting you. 

And he held still.

As you gently set the bandaid down over his cut, you chanced a glance down into his eyes, your own hand still cupping his cheek. 

And you held your breath. “All done,” you whispered. Jack was holding you in place with that look, making your heart race. 

“Irons, you’re up next,” you mumbled, clearing your throat and stepping back from Jack. 

“Jesus, finally,” Will huffed; but your eyes were still on his best friend as he sat down beside him on the empty bed across from your own. Stuck in a moment you couldn’t break free from. Stuck with him there.

And you fell into each other, skin covered in a thin sheen of sweat, fingernails dragging up the outsides of your thighs, head pushing back into the pillows. Sounds echoing through the small room, darkness enveloping your bodies, sensations you’d never felt overwhelming you from head to toe. There was a connection between you that you couldn’t understand, something deep and powerful and tangible. He touched you and you could breathe again... he held you and you gasped his name. And you were consuming him, his every thought dedicated to you, to how you looked beneath him, to how his name sounded rolling off the tip of your tongue, to your smile and your laugh and the way your eyes glinted in the sun. 

But time was never quite on your side.

“Private y/l/n,” Doc Aarons, the surgeon you’d been working with for three years, spoke up from beside you, “You taken your lunch yet?” 

You glanced up from the supplies you were inventorying, in a daze as you murmured, “Not yet, sir.”

He nodded as he pored over his latest med journal, not looking up. “Go ahead and do that now. Thinking I might send you on exam rounds later.” 

“Copy that,” you replied, setting your clipboard down and eyeing the bag of sealed scalpels you’d been counting. 

You were opening the door and stepping outside before you saw him; Jack, smiling at you from just down the hall. 

You glanced back at Doc Aarons and raised a brow, wondering if he’d seen Jack step past the room. He remained involved in his journal, never looking up to acknowledge your silent question.

“Hi...” you grinned as you turned back to Jack, curiosity in your voice and hands on your hips. “Can I help you, soldier?”

He was warm as he walked slowly toward you. “Well, y/n, you tell me.” 

Your arms were crossed, and you felt your cheeks tinting pink at the way he refused to pull his gaze from yours. 

“I’m listening,” you murmured.

He stopped just a foot in front of you, nerves buzzing under the surface as he looked down at you. The look in your eyes had his heart threatening to pound from his chest. 

“See, I’m... deploying in the morning. Big mission, lots of us goin’ out.” He cleared his throat, and you were fighting to keep your smirk back. “And I was thinkin’ it’d sure be a shame if I didn’t get to take you out before I left.” 

His words pulled the smile right back out onto your lips. “Is that so?” 

He chuckled and ducked his head, feeling the way you teased him set his nerves alight. 

“Well, good... I think it would be, too.” 

He looked up, and god, how it felt to see him look at you that way. 

“Sounds good, Private,” he murmured softly, leaning forward to press a chaste kiss to your cheek. 

And it wasn’t until he walked away, disappearing around the corner as your fingers rested on the spot on your cheek his lips had touched... that you realized you’d been standing in front of the large window of Doc Aaron’s office the whole time. Your head snapped to the left, and he flicked his journal up in front of his face just in time, his own smirk in full effect behind its flimsy pages.

You blushed and scurried down the hall, still feeling Jack’s kiss on your cheek right where he’d left it.

It was deep in the night, only an hour left before he had to get up and get moving to make his briefing call. You both laid in the quiet, tangled up in each other, motel sheets wrapped around your limbs. There was nothing like the way it felt to be in his arms… to feel him hold you tightly against him. You fit together like puzzle pieces.

He smiled lazily up at you, biting his lip and reaching up to brush your cheek with his thumb. “You gonna miss me?” he smirked up at you, murmuring his words.

You grinned down at him, both your palms pressed to his bare chest. “How could I miss you?” you lied, “I barely know you...” He gave a laugh that sent butterflies fluttering through your stomach, the coy look in your eye nearly being betrayed by the warmth he made you feel. 

There was a long pause, his eyes staring up into yours. He was gathering words... trying to find them. And finally... with a swallow, his hand moved to your wrist, bringing your palm up to his lips where he pressed a single, soft kiss. 

“Wait for me, then...” He stared up at you, meaning every word. His lips soft against your skin. “Let me take you on a second date.” 

His words hit you hard, and you bit your lip to contain the smile spreading over your lips. Cupping his cheek, without another moment of thought, you muttered, “I’m not goin’ anywhere, soldier.”

Just four short hours later, you stood outside the med building, one hand shielding your eyes from the sun, as you waited and watched for his plane. Something sunk into your stomach, a dread. Worry. You were a soldier yourself, one who’d been aching to go into combat someday if they’d ever let you — but somehow even then, there was something nagging at you. Something bothering you about watching him go.

And you felt it settle into your bones as your eyes finally caught the first of the planes taking off. You watched him deploy out on that mission, and your heart was relentless in your chest. He and his fellow marines - he and his best friend, Will - were off for Korea, off to enter combat for the first time.

You felt something ache inside you. It was all you could do not to let tears well up in your eyes as you watched him go.

You barely knew anything about him... you didn’t know if he’d ever broken any bones, or if he had siblings, or who his favorite comic book hero was. You’d hardly gotten to know him yet... but feeling that sudden, violent pull inside of you, begging you to run blindly after that plane as it lifted off the tarmac — that was the most terrifying feeling you’d ever known. 

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