#grif x reader

“Grif! Grif! Are you over here?!” You shouted as you walked down the beach towards your friends usual resting spot on the beach. Your answer was an annoyed groan and the man’s head popping up from behind a rock a sight that caused you to stop and raise an eyebrow at him.

“What do you want?!” Grif shouted back dragging himself up into a better sitting position so that you could at least see his armored shoulders.

“Nothin I just wanted to see what you were doing.” You stated as you hopped on top of the rock sitting down cross-legged and leaning forward so that your elbows were resting on your knees and you were looking down at Grif. He squinted up at you the sun blinding him slightly but mainly being blocked out by your head.

“(Y/N) we’re on vacation for the first time in our lives and that means two things one that Sarge can’t boss me around and two that we don’t have to do any work so what the hell did you think I was doing?” Grif responded and you smiled down at him.

“Do you really want me to answer that? Because there’s a number of things you could have been doing especially behind this rock.” You pointed out and it took Grif a second to process what you’d said and when he did a bright red blush spread across his cheeks that made you giggle.

“Oh, my gods! You just as bad as Tucker!” Grif shouted reaching up to smack at you and you giggled easily dodging the hand he attempted to smack you with, a smile on his face.

“Hey! I’m just calling it as I see it and right now all I see is you behind a rock by yourself, what exactly did you expect me to think?” You asked him mimicking his words from earlier which caused him to roll his eyes but the smile never left his face.

“Alright smartass I get it, now are you going to stay on that rock or are you going to come down here and join me?” Grif asked and you smiled as you stood up and hoped down from the rock landing next to him barely disturbing the sand as you landed and then plopped down next to him. Kicking your feet up you crossed your hands behind your head and stared up at the sky a comfortable silence falling over the two of you as you just laid there in the warm sand. The silence lasted for a couple of minutes before Grif finally spoke up.

“So what was the real reason that you were looking for me anyway?” Grif asked and you were silent for a couple of seconds before sighing as you sat up loosely wrapping your arms around your knees as you looked out at the ocean.

“In all honesty, I’m just bored.” You told him and Grif’s brow furrowed in confusion as he looked at you.

“You’re bored so you came to find me? I’m sure the others are doing something far more exciting than laying here in the sand.” Grif commented and you sighed again looking up at the sky in mild frustration.

“I’m sure they are too but I don’t know, knowing that I still feel bored. Don’t get me wrong I went to check out what they were doing but I still felt bored just standing there watching them hell I didn’t even think participating sounded fun!” You paused sighing as you ran your fingers through your hair before continuing. “I don’t know maybe I’m broken or something.” You said with a shrug, wrapping your arms around your knees. Grif was silent for a couple of seconds watching you as you stared out at the ocean stretching out in front of you for miles before finally sitting up crossing his legs, he didn’t look at you though instead he started out ahead.

“I wouldn’t say that you’re broken (Y/N) everyone gets bored every now and again, I’m sure the feeling will pass eventually,” Grif said you frowned as you looked at the ocean. You were silent for a moment trying to think of what to say because if you were being honest this boredom had been going on for a while now and no matter what you did you just couldn’t shake the feeling of boredom. Even with the other Reds and Blues doing their usual antics didn’t interest you and you were starting to worry that maybe what you needed was to go on another adventure with the guys. The reason that scared you so much was that you didn’t really want to go on an adventure you wanted to be here, you wanted to stay on this moon, you wanted to stay right here on this beach with Grif and not take orders from Sarge or Washington.

“What if it doesn’t?” You asked him as you wrapped your arms around your legs as you rested your head on top of your knees. You jerked at the sudden weight on your shoulders, looking towards Grif to see that he had wrapped an arm around your shoulders.

“Relax you’ll be fine, just give it a couple of weeks.” He said giving you a reassuring smile as he pulled you into his side your armor thumping metallically against his and you smiled laying your head on his shoulder.

“Thanks, Grif.” You said still smiling as you watched the water lap lazily at the shore. A comfortable silence fell over the two of you just sat there on the beach listening to the distant screaming of the guys as they did whatever insane stunt they were doing right now though by the sounds of it seemed like Caboose was the one causing the most trouble. You chuckled slightly when you heard Wash’s cry of either terror or anger echoing all the way down to the beach, Grif laughing right along with you. The moment was broken by a small shiny light appearing in the distance, you squinted at the light standing up from Grif’s hold shielding your eyes and trying to get a better look at whatever was in the distance.

“What the hell is that?” You asked causing Grif to look towards the sky with you.

“What are you looking at?” Grif asked and you pointed towards the light which was steadily getting bigger the closer it got.

“That, what the hell is that?” You stated and Grif stood up shielding his eyes with his own hand as he looked where you were pointing. His eyes widened when he saw the shiny dot you had been talking about and the two of you stood there in utter confusion watching as the dot got bigger until the two of you could finally make out what it was.

“Oh my god, that’s a spaceship. Why is a spaceship coming towards us? Why the fuck is there a spaceship?!” Grif shouted in near hysterics.

“Doesn’t matter come on we better get back up there with the others before that ship touches down.” You said as you grabbed a hold of Grif’s hand and began dragging him towards the natural steps leading back up to the bases you guys were staying in.

“Alright! Alright, I’m coming!” Grif shouted as he pulled his hand free shoving his helmet back on and following you up the cliff.

As it would turn out that spaceship hadn’t been carrying anyone intent on hurting the reds and blues, for fucking once, but it had been carrying an entirely different load of problems. Said problems came in the form of a Reporter and her cameraman and the news that they had brought with them, news that meant a number of things and you had mixed feelings about all of it. The news that they had brought with them was the news of another group of reds and blues out there pretending to be you guys and causing a shit load of trouble for the UNSC. Then there was the bombshell to end all bombshells. Along with the news you guys were all now wanted criminals it also turned out that Church was alive, again, and he needed your guys to help and it was that information where your mixed feelings really came in to play. On one hand, you wanted to go save Church, you knew you guys should go save Church and dare you to think if you were also excited about the idea of going on another adventure. On the other hand, though you didn’t want to, you didn’t want to go save Church, you didn’t want to deal with his problems again, you didn’t want to risk your life for an AI that barely managed to tolerate any of you. Despite all of that though you found yourself agreeing to go along with everyone, to help them save Church which is also why you were currently standing outside in between Lopez and Simmons only half paying attention to what Sarge was saying.

“That’s a good point, Lopez, where is Grif?” At the mention of Grif’s name, you were snapped out of your thoughts blinking a couple of times and looking around, your brow furrowed in confusion when you didn’t see him.

“Yeah, I haven’t seen him since the meeting. (Y/N) have you seen him?” Simmons asked looking over at you and you shook your head.

“No, I haven’t seen him since the meeting either.” You responded. Your gut twisted uncomfortably as a heavy feeling settled in your gut and you surrounded the area, it was like Grif to wander off but it was unlike you not to see where he went.

“I know what’s happening! He’s been captured by the Whites! This. Means. War.” Sarge stated completely serious and you sighed looking down at the ground, now you were incredibly glad you hadn’t really been paying attention to what Sarge had been saying.

“Sarge I really don’t think Grif was captured by the Whites.” You told him but he ignored you turning around to face where the blues were standing talking to Dylan and Jax.

“Nonsense (Y/L/N)! Of course, those Whites would capture Grif those conniving devils! Follow me, men!” Sarge shouted as he ran down the hill towards the blues and Dylan and Jax. You and Simmons both sighed heavily while Lopez muttered something in Spanish that neither of you could understand before you and Simmons ran after Sarge.

“Back off, missy! We know you have Grif! Give him back or I start shootin’!” Sarge shouted as he raised his shotgun and pointed it at Dylan and once again you sighed heavily reaching up and hitting your palm against your helmet.

“Sarge for the last time she doesn’t have Grif!” You shouted at him but your words went unheard by Sarge once again and you dropped your head back looking up at the sky as you shook your head listening to the others confirm what you’d already told him. You cared about Sarge you really did but sometimes… ok, a lot of times you were left wondering how the man hadn’t gotten himself killed yet with his stupidity, then again with the track record all of you had even if he did get killed he’d probably come back to life.

“Great. Just great. Now we’ve gotta find Grif, we don’t have time for this!” Tucker complained and your head snapped up to level a glare at him.

“If this was one of your teammates I’m sure you wouldn’t be complaining about having to look for him.” You grumbled just barely loud enough for Simmons to hear and you could feel him send a look your way but you ignored it as you attempt to make Tucker spontaneously combust.

“I agree, let’s pack up and prepare to move out, I’m sure he’ll turn up,” Washington said, at the last bit he looked over at you from where you were standing next to Simmons and you muttered a couple things under your breath but stopped staring at Tucker. He was right Grif would probably turn up in the end, he always did, but that didn’t mean you felt any better about not knowing where he was.

“Right.” You agreed with him and Wash nodded.

“I’ll go check the pantry,” Simmons said as he turned to walk towards the bases with everyone else and you nodded.

“I’ll check the beach.” You told him turning and walking in the opposite direction, it wouldn’t hurt to look for him a little bit before packing after all.

~Elsewhere~

“And you’re sure you saw him go in?” Dylan asked Jax as she looked away from the cave entrance and towards her cameraman who nodded his head.

“Yeah! He was acting just like Gollum, he was all mutter and crawly…” Jax trailed off when Dylan looked back at the cave a quick moment of silence fell over the two of them as Dylan thought of what to do.

“Ok, you stay here I’m going to go in and see if I can talk the cat out of the tree,” Dylan said already walking towards the cave.

“Wait! You don’t want me to come with you and film?” Jax asked and Dylan shook her head.

“No, I doubt he’ll even talk to me but I know for a fact there’s no way he’s going to talk to the two of us besides I don’t think this is a moment he’d want to be filmed anyways. So you just stay here I’ll handle this.” Dylan said turning back around and walking into the cave entrance. For a couple of feet, Dylan walked in silence following the surprisingly narrow tunnel to a slightly larger area and it wasn’t until she noticed an orange figure sitting on the floor with their head against the wall a few feet away that she finally said anything.

“Grif?... Grif?” Dylan asked her voice calm and soft like she was trying not to scare away a timid animal as she slowly walked up to Grif who didn’t look away from the ceiling to look at her.

“Go away,” Grif stated his voice heavy and his tone fed up but serious at the same time. Dylan took a deep breath as she mentally prepared herself to talk to Grif like she would any other person she was interviewing. Calm, cool, and collected with a hint of concern and caring in her voice she would need all of that if she hoped to figure out what was wrong with Grif and why he wasn’t with the others.

“I just want to talk,” Dylan said her tone calm and confident as she stopped a reasonable distance in front of him.

“Yeah well, I don’t want to talk to you! Or to anyone for that matter! So make like a tree and fuck off!” Grif shouted as he lowered his head to look at Dylan. Dylan could feel the glare he was giving her even through the helmet he was wearing. This was going to be trickery than she thought it would have been.

“I… see you’re upset,” Dylan stated hesitating for a second before continuing making sure to choose her words carefully. “Can I ask you why you’re upset?” She finished and Grif’s glare did not lighten if anything it only worsened as he stood up, picking his gun up from where he’d laid it beside him.

“You! You are why I’m upset! You show up here unannounced and you drop a fucking bomb on us! And then everyone goes springing into action! We are supposed to be done! We are supposed to be retired! I don’t wanna go on another adventure! I don’t wanna listen to Sarge! I don’t wanna get shot at! I don’t want to shoot at other people! I want to relax! I want to chill!!!! I want to sit down and chill and not have to worry about dying every fucking second but thanks to you I can’t do that now can I?!” Grif shouted his words filled with a mix of frustration and anger. Dylan blinked him a couple of times as she calmed her own emotions, she was now extremely glad she’d left Jax outside she’d been yelled at and blamed for things before so she could handle this, this she was used to, but she highly doubted Jax was.

“So what? You just want to leave Church to his fate?” She asked and that seemed to be the wrong thing to ask him because he all but lost it at that.

“FUCK CHURCH! I spent half my life dealing with his shit! His ex-girlfriend! His daddy issues! His resurrections! His bullshit! Why can’t he just stay dead?” Grif’s anger had tapered off towards the end of that and all that was left was hurt mixed with what seemed like desperation. A moment of silence followed suit as Dylan thought of what to say and Grif waited to see what the reporter would do, hoping that she would just end up walking away and leaving him alone.

“You know I’ve spent a lot of time looking at logs, reading transcripts, and talking to eyewitnesses and you want to know what they all say? They all say the same thing about you that you’re the lazy one, the one who doesn’t care…” Dylan paused for second thinking ahead a couple of words.

“Nailed it,” Grif stated when she paused and Dylan scowled at him before continuing.

“And you know what? I think they’re wrong because your actions tell a completely different story. They tell a story of someone who always answers the call, who cares about his friends, who always help them when they need it and is willing to fight for them just the same. But more importantly, they tell the story of someone who’s willing to fight for the greater good. I mean I saw you giving Sarge CPR in the Blood Gulch logs! You saved his life! And you expect me to believe that you actually want Church to stay dead? Admit it Grif you care about your friends just like your sister said.” Dylan finished and there was a beat of silence as the two of them stared at each other and for a moment. Just a moment Dylan had hope that she had changed his mind.

“YOU DON’T KNOW THE FIRST THING ABOUT ME, LADY!!! I HATE EVERYBODY! I HATE SIMMONS!! I HATE SARGE!! I HATE DONUT!! BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY OF ALL, I HATE FUCKING CHURCH!!! SO GO AHEAD AND PRINT THAT IN YOUR FUCKING PAPER!!!” Grif exploded. Anger radiated off of him in waves as he stormed past her.

“What about Private (Y/L/N)?! Do you hate her too?!” Dylan shouted after him as she spun around to face him desperate to get him to stop and actually think about what she had said. Grif stopped mid-stride not bothering to turn around and instead staring straight ahead.

“What did you say?” He asked his tone was almost unreadable now and Dylan gulped fear gripping her fast but she’d crossed worse lines than this and there was no going back now.

“I said what about Private (Y/L/N)? I told you Grif I’ve watched the logs from Blood Gulch you expect me to believe that you really hate her?” Dylan asked and she couldn’t fully tell but she was pretty sure that Grif had tensed up as he continued to refuse to look back at her.

“Yeah well don’t believe everything you see on the internet.” Grif’s tone was still unreadable as he stalked out of the cave leaving Dylan there to wallow in her failure for a couple of seconds before she sighed and walked out of the cave. Jax was still standing there waiting for her when she got out.

“So how’d it go?” Jax asked and she rolled her eyes like he didn’t already know from how Grif had stormed out of the cave.

“Not good. I just hope I didn’t mess anything up for these guys now come on we better be getting back.” Dylan said and she honestly did mean it. For the first time in a long time, she was actually worried that she may have fucked everything up beyond repair.

~Back with the Others~

You were standing in front of two spaceships with the others that unease in your stomach growing worse and worse the closer it got to all of you leaving, of course, it didn’t help that Grif still wasn’t here. Simmons hadn’t found him in the pantry and you hadn’t managed to find him on the beach, you had even checked his room and a few other places before you forced to actually pack for this mission and you still hadn’t found him and now you were just getting more nervous and more and more worried about what had happened to him.

“Alright everyone listen up! We’re going to be splitting up! Attacking this situation from both flanks will generally be easier. Carolina and I will be paying a few visits to some fellow Freelancer alumni to see if we can learn anything meanwhile the rest of you with the help of the press will locate the source of Church’s message. Now enough words, wheels up in 10 and remember-Oh!” Wash cut himself off as he looked to his right all of you doing the same. Immediately the feeling in your stomach and the tension in your body disappeared when you saw Grif walking towards you all.

“Well look who’s finally decided to grace us with his presence!” Wash finished and you rolled your eyes. Wash may have been teasing him but you could tell that he was just as glad as you were that Grif has shown up.

“Great! Everyone’s here we can all leave now.” Tucker said with some relief in his voice but mainly urgency. He was already starting to move to the ship all of you would be taking.

“And where have you been, soldier?!” Sarge shouted moving so that he was standing next to Wash and you moved so that you could actually see Grif who stopped a couple of feet away from the group rather than joining the rest of you. Your brows furrowed at that, usually Grif would come to stand right next to you or at the very least he would go to stand next to Simmons he never kept his distance like this.

“Thinking.” He said after a moment of hesitation and the others all made noises of either disbelief or laughter.

“Oh yeah? About what?” Tucker asked with a scuff.

“About food probably,” Simmons responded and you glared at the both of them, you may have been wearing a helmet but they caught the fact that you were glaring at them and stopped laughing before they could even begin. The two of them looked away from you and refused to look back until you had looked away.

“No. Actually, I was thinking that I quit.” Grif stated and you were frozen as you stared at him blinking a couple of times there was no way that he had just said that, you must have heard him wrong.

“What? Quit what?” Simmons asked and Grif looked at him.

“The military. You. All of you, take your pick, either way, I’m not going, I’m staying.” Grif’s voice was firm and clear as he looked around at all of you his gaze lingering for a couple of seconds on you before moving quickly to someone else.

“What?” You breathed out shock had taken a hold of your body and you found that you couldn’t really move, your brain was moving a mile a second trying to process what it was that was happening.

“You can’t quit! That’s not allowed!” Tucker shouted, your question getting drowned out by his statement.

“Yes, I can. I can do whatever the fuck I want, I’m not in the military anymore you guys don’t get to tell me what to do anymore especially you Sarge.” Grif stated and there was a certain amount of joy to his tone that only seemed to fuel the shock and confused chaos that was your mind as you continued to stare at him.

“But… But what about Church?” Caboose asked his voice tiny and hurt as he looked at Grif.

“Oh my god, can’t you all just let it go already? Church has died and come back more times than I can care to count and it’s starting to get fucking old.” Grif said looking mainly at Caboose when he said it and Caboose looked down at the ground.

“What the fuck dude? Seriously?! You’ve always been selfish but this really takes the fucking cake!” Tucker shouted and Grif turned his attention to him as he was silent for a beat.

“I don’t like you,” Grif stated his voice calm and almost emotionless as he stared directly at Tucker before looking at the rest of you.  “Any of you.” He added on. At that, your brain stopped completely everything you had been thinking disappearing instantly and instead being replaced with the words the Grif had just said.

“Listen, guys, we’ve known each other for a long time and I just figured that you should all hear it from me first. I’m done.” Grif said as he turned around and walked off.

You just stood there staring at his retreating figure as your brain continued to replay what Grif had just said, as your brain repeated those three little words that had managed to completely destroy you in a matter of seconds. Your heart was thumping wildly in your chest and you couldn’t move, you couldn’t feel anything other than the tightness in your chest and you couldn’t hear anything as you just stood there watching Grif walk away shock and hurt rendering you immobile. Shaking your head you forced yourself to think of something else, you had to do something, you had to get to the bottom of this you couldn’t just let him walk away. You couldn’t. You wouldn’t.

“Pssh, who needs him?! Good riddance is what I say!” Tucker shouted after him and that finally snapped you back into action as you started moving forward.

“Tucker!” Wash yelled at him as he hit Tucker watching as you moved forward.

“(Y/N)?” Wash asked his voice gentle as he watched you but you ignored him, walking in the direction that Grif had left in.

“Where the hell are you going?” Tucker asked you.

“I’m going to talk to him.” You responded not bothering to turn around as you kept walking.

“What?! What about Church?!” Tucker shouted after you his voice filled with frustration and disbelief.

“Church waited this long to get a message to us, one more fucking minute isn’t going to hurt him.” You responded your voice making it clear that you weren’t about to be swayed on this topic.

“Which is exactly-” “Enough Tucker. Let her go talk to him.” Sarge interrupted him and Tucker looked at Sarge in shock, that was the first time he was pretty sure that Sarge had ever addressed him by name let alone in such a fatherly tone of voice. Grumbling a couple of things under his breath Tucker turned and walked away from all of them heading to the reporter's spaceships.

“We’ll be waiting for you!” Simmons shouted after you as he turned around and walked away with the others. You ignored them all as you jogged a little to catch up with Grif. You found him standing in the same spot that you had found him this morning. You stopped where you were staring at him for a couple of seconds as you tried to calm your rapidly beating heart before walking up to him.

“Grif I-” “Go away (Y/N).” Grif interrupted you before you could say anything else his voice almost emotionless as he stared out at the sea and you stopped walking towards him.

“Grif please I just want to talk to you.” You were having a hard time keeping the pleading out of your voice and keeping your emotions under control as you shifted.

“Yeah well I don’t want to talk to you besides don’t you have a spaceship to board and a dead guy to go save?” he asked and this time there was a bit of hurt to his tone which only seemed to only make the tightness in your chest worse.

“I don’t care about that right now, all I care about right now is you and figuring out what the hell is going on with you right now?” You said and finally, Grif turned to look at you.

“Oh don’t pretend like you actually care.” His words practically slapped you in the face as he glared at you from underneath his helmet.

“I-wha… what? Grif what are you talking about? Of course, I care about you, how can you say that?” The tightness in your chest had gotten worse and now there was an almost nauseous feeling in your stomach as you stared at him your eyes full of hurt.

“Cut the bullshit (Y/L/N)!” Grif shouted suddenly and you flinched taking a step back from him. Having him call you by your last name hurt more than him saying that he didn’t like you ever could.

“Grif, please-” “No! You know I honestly thought that you would get it, that you out of everybody would understand what it was like to be on vacation what it was like to constantly help people who couldn’t care less about you and whether or not you lived or died. I honestly thought that we were on the same page when it came to finally have a vacation.” Grif ranted and you shook your head your eyes stinging with tears of frustration and hurt as you took a step towards him.

“I do Grif, I understand that I really do and we are on the same page we’ve always been on the same page.” You pleaded with him desperate to get him to see that you weren’t the enemy here, that you weren’t trying to hurt him. Desperately trying to figure out what was going on.

“Stop lying to me (Y/L/N)! Do you honestly think that I didn’t see the way your eyes lit up when Tucker and Caboose demanded that we go find and save Church?! How you looked the most excited and interested than you had in weeks?! How you all but tackled Tucker and Caboose in your rush to agree with them?! I may be lazy (Y/L/N) but I’m not fucking stupid! In the end, you’re just like them, all you care about is going on adventures, risking your life for a guy who’s been dead for pretty much a year at this point! We were never on the same page you were just pretending to like me, to enjoy spending time with me while we were on this vacation just so you’d have something to do.” Grif said and you could hear the hurt in his voice. You shook your head again taking a step towards him as a single tear slipped down your cheek before you could stop it. It hurt that Grif was saying this, that he was using your last name, but what hurt the most was the fact that you knew he was right, not about the using him thing but about the fact that this was the most excited you’d been in weeks. That you had practically jumped on the opportunity to get off this moon. It hurt that he was right about that and that you were all but defenseless to stop it.

“Grif please if you would just… if you would just let me explain.” You pleaded with him but he turned away from you.

“Don’t bother.” His voice had gone back to that emotionlessness before and you hated it. Hated how it didn’t seem like he was feeling anything. Hated how he could say those words like the years of the two of you being together and, the years of trusting and of being there for each other hadn’t even fucking mattered to him.

“Grif, please-” “GO (Y/L/N)!” Grif shouted easily drowning out your weak voice. You flinched again opening your mouth to say something before closing it and turning around.

“I’m sorry, can you rewind?” you ask, taken aback. He glances up, confused at the way you’re nibbling your bottom lip.

“To the bit where I said he was annoying?”

“No,” you shake your head, arms crossing over your chest. “The bit before that.”

“Oh, you mean the penguin fact thing.” He nods in understanding, but you’re rejecting the statement. He flops down onto the bench with a theatrical sigh, seat groaning beneath him as his head falls into his hands.

“No, I’m aiming more for the bit about you liking me.”

He stops, body freezing as he stares at your through his fingers. Retracting them, he stammers that he doesn’t know what you’re talking about. He turns a deep maroon under the rooms pressure, eyes looking anywhere but you.

“Grif, did you yell penguin stuff because you were trying to impress me?”

He’s quiet, shrinking like a small child beneath his self created embarrassment. When he speaks, he sounds heartbroken. “Penguins are your favourite.”