Merry Christmas Cat, (Crosspost)
A Christmas treat for Cat (thelonebamf )
Pairing: Snake/Otacon pre-slash
Basis: MGS 1&2 between the Tanker and Plant Chapters
Rating: PG-13ish
Serious Warnings: Slash, some angst, mentions of death.
Silly Warnings: Fluff, Jeannie will not take responsibility for any diabetic outbreaks, addictions or any other such things. Bad decorating, you have been warned. Also it’s kinda rushed so if you want a re-do Cat, please just say so.
Concrit:
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Prompt: Something sweet about Snake and Otacon that involves Christmas cookies. Preferably during Philanthropy days/ it can be as fluffy or as sexy as you like.
Dave blinked at the thing he saw before him, it was bizarre, unnatural and something only a very disturbed mind would conceive of and yet there it was right before him. Surrounding the torn package of gingerbread men on the desk was a holiday wreath made out of knives purloined from the armory held together with duct tape.
Just inside of the door, the coat rack had a trashcan placed over it and a camouflage net draped over that. Dummy grenades and guns shoved through the holes amid belts of bullets strewn across the ’tree’ like garland. He looked down at the display with a grin, wondering what Big Boss would say if he saw what those two had done to Foxhound’s headquarters.
Dave could see the aforementioned two squatting on the floor opening a box addressed to Big Boss, but their faces were hazy and Snake could not recall their names.
“Should we get the rookie his gift?” The male asked the female examining a yellow box curiously. The package writhed and squeaked ominously but he paid no heed to it as he read the note inside it, appearing to say “From Adam” but half the m had been gnawed away.
“Grey Fox has it, if it hasn‘t gone away yet. Go and find him if you dare” The woman’s voice as hamsters sprang from the package and turned the room into a writhing mass of fur, fangs and teeth.
“Br~ro~ther” Liquid’s voice called out tauntingly as Snake fought to escape the cloud. Snake managed to get a glimpse of his twin standing triumphantly over the crumpled form of his partner Hal.
Snake then tossed off sleep with a violent gasp as he bolded upright, instinctively bringing up a hand over is pounding heart.
It had been just another nightmare, probably spurred by the footage of Liquid being fished out of the Hudson that played on an endless loop on the news; now with the caption that the terrorist Solid Snake was dead. Now once they saw a good opening to get out of New York and start hunting Metal Gears again.
Maybe once they shook Hal’s stalkers, the two could share a bed again, Dave thought grimly. Having a warm body- especially one as trusted as the engineer was- seemed to do wonders at keeping the nightmares at bay even if it did invite other types of dreams.
Dave got quickly to his feet and crept over to the door of Hal’s room he carefully peeked in. Hal was slumped over his computer snoring softly; the desktop’s power light was flashing amber through the small room. With a grimace, Snake saw moving figures in the apartment complex across the street. Snake was positive that they were the ones behind the recent burglary and had left behind that disturbing present in the apartment as well.
Silently Snake snuck into the closet where he pulled out his sneaking suit, determined to get closer to the truth. Unfortunately, Dave was so wound up in his thoughts that he bumped into the table and sent Hal’s tools clattering the floor. There was a ringing in his ears that took him a moment to realize it was the Codec, which he reluctantly answered.
“Snake, what’s wrong?” Otacon asked in a worried tone and Snake glanced at the doorway that led to his partner’s room. No light, odds are that Hal had barely moved so his stalkers were likely to think he was still asleep.
“Nothing” Snake shot back instinctively. He hated being weak and others feeling the need to mother him. A pregnant silence, one that came up more often after the disaster of their last mission fell between them. “Go back to sleep” He continued in a less harsh tone.
After Hal had pulled Snake out of the Hudson River, Snake had found himself conflicted. Betrayal from supposed allies was nothing new to him, but somehow this had hurt worse.
Maybe it’s because it underlined how different the two men truly were. Snake had few ties to anyone and anything; even in retirement, he’d made it easy to cut off his roots and move elsewhere. But Hal was different; he had family of sorts still.
In a way it worried Dave that one day Hal would find something other than the mission and leave Philanthropy and Snake himself. And it was thoughts like these that made him sure that he’d finally gotten too close.
As far as their landlord knew, this studio apartment was rented by Harry Emerson a freelance reporter who worked odd hours, lived alone and received no visitors. To the unknown group Ocelot was working for, this is where Otacon stayed to mourn his fallen partner after the authorities had been unable to prove that Hal was directly involved in the sinking of the Discovery.
“It’s the nightmares again isn’t it?” Hal asked. He‘d heard Dave‘s cries, and was trying to do something while keeping up the façade. It hurt at times like this when the only thing they could do was keep Snake out of sight (And it had taken quite a bit to convince Snake to even stay here and not on the streets like the soldier had planned to do) when all it‘d take is for Hal to lay beside Dave to quiet those nightmares. Hell, they couldn’t even talk face to face due to fear of being overheard and the codec was reserved for emergencies only.
Dave kept silent, and Hal had to bite back the urge to say something to encourage the other man to open up. They had had this fight before, and Hal had come to grudgingly accept that Snake was not going to ask for help with any problems unless they were an immediate physical threat to him. In a way, the utter disregard Dave had for his health scared Hal. The image of the half-dead Snake that Hal had barely dragged from the river haunted the engineer’s thoughts, and then there was Liquid as well. Until they had been forced to use the man as a decoy, Hal had never truly seen the difference between them and now he was determined to make sure that one being alive and the other dead was a major one for as long as possible.
“How long do you think they are going to continue following me?” Hal asked irritably. He really wanted to be able to interact with his partner like a normal person again, like they’d been able to before. Today was Christmas Eve and Hal had barely had time to do anything. He looked over at the sad project that had taken up a good deal of his time and smiled bitterly. Even with all these silly restrictions, Otacon had a mission to give Snake some Christmas cheer.
“Until they are given orders to end the surveillance, though who knows when that will be.” Snake added bitterly. This isolation together was wearing on the both of them.
“Well I hope it’s before they try to plant another camera in here. That was just plain creepy.” Hal shuddered at the thought. About a three days after they had moved in here, someone had broken in and stolen Hal’s laptop and tried to put a key logger and several tracking viruses in his desktop. Not only that but they had been in the middle of placing hidden cameras in every room, with the bathroom one being the only one online.
“Don’t worry, we’ll be gone by they have the chance to repeat that trick.” Snake assured the other man, his tone suggesting that the moment could not come too soon
Otacon stretched and stood up. “I need to get up.” Hal explained as he switched on the light and gave a small laugh. “Here, I made you a little something.” Hal said with a hint of longing. He then picked up his project and headed out to the living room.
Dave looked at the pile of fake pine branches decorated with equally fake poinsettias and folded pieces of colored tin foil, no doubt from the package of Christmas chocolates that Hal set on the coffee table next to the bench that acted as Dave‘s bed. The angles of the makeshift tree told Dave that not too long ago this had been a wreath.
“I didn’t know how you felt about the holidays, but I thought we could do with some Christmas cheer. The rest of the chocolate’s in the kitchen if you want some.” Hal said as he turned around and walked over to the closet, flashing Dave a shy smile. “That’s probably the strangest Christmas tree you’ve ever seen.”
Dave grinned, “Sorry to disappoint you but no.” Hal returned the grin as he pulled out his jacket and boots.
“You’re going out in this?” Snake asked disdainfully and Hal offered a shrug.
“I doubt Mei Ling will take no for an answer.” Hal replied playfully. “She needs help with this dangerous mission.”
“Shopping isn’t a ‘dangerous mission’ Hal.” Snake shot back, amusement twinkling in his eyes. Hal shook his head and went into their small kitchen.
“You’re not the one who got knocked into a store shelf, have a blender fall on your head and get bitten, holiday shoppers are crazy.” Hal muttered to himself remembering last Black Friday. “Besides, even if I could cancel with Mei Ling, I’d still have to go out.”
“Why’s that?” Snake asked toying with the makeshift Christmas tree.
“We’re out of coffee.” Hal said holding out the empty can for Dave to see. Dave shook his head and watched Hal slink dejectedly out of the kitchen and get ready to go out. Once he was sure his partner was gone, Snake could begin the mission of his own.
End Part One
Part two will be less info-dumpy.