Chapter Text
"Woah, hey, hey hey hey..." Soap hushed the large creature in front of him. "It's okay, it's alright."
Said large creature was one of the biggest wolves Soap had ever seen in his life, taller than Soap himself. Its body was covered in beautiful grey and black fur. As Soap approached, he noticed that the fur on its left leg was matted with blood from the bear trap imbedded into its thigh. Despite it's clear ability to kill him at any moment, Soap felt the need to help.
A sharp snap of teeth and Soap stepped back. The poor thing was terrified, understandably so. "I'll stay over here, okay?" He asked, unknowing that the wolf could understand him. The gigantic thing kept barking and snapping at Soap as he reached into his bag. "Luckily I brought some snacks~"
A piece of ham was thrown towards the wolf, who quickly gobbled it up off the ground after examining the piece of meat. It didn't smell drugged, it wouldn't hurt, right? Several more pieces were thrown towards him, which were all quickly eaten.
"I'm... gonna come closer. Please don't kill me. I have a ma." Soap muttered, mainly to himself, as he stepped closer. Most of the ham from his sandwich was gone, so he offered a piece of cheese instead. "Here, you'll go crazy for this."
Part of said cheese was also put on the ground for the wolf, and once again, was examined and then eaten. "What a good wolf you are." Soap hummed softly before slowly holding out his hand to offer more. 'Please don't bite my arm off...'
The wolf seemed much more hesitant now. It was hungry, and still shaking with pain and fear. Slowly, slowly, slowly, it leaned forward and sniffed his hand. The rest of the cheese from his sandwich was there, and the wolf slooowly removed it from the man's hand. "Atta boy." Soap praised and left his hand out.
"I probably smell really appetizing now, eh?" Soap laughed, realizing how dumb he was. Ah yes, feed the giant fucking wolf in the forest and get yourself to smell like things that it eats. Fucking smart, MacTavish.
The wolf sniffed his hand, and cautiously put its heavy head in his palm. A small, pained whine escaped from its mouth as it closed its eyes. Soap felt a bit of sadness at this. He wanted so badly to hug the poor thing, but he knew to take it slow.
Any other time, Ghost would've killed the man by now. Ghost was no stranger to killing and he felt hardly a thing about it. But the way this man was acting, he felt... he felt weirdly at home. Maybe it was the lonliness, maybe it was the pain. Maybe Ghost just felt so fucking tired. But either way, Ghost just sat there, putting all of his trust in the strangely nice man to not kill him. A soft kiss- well, lick- to Soap's forearm as a sign to continue. Soap flinched and Ghost couldn't help but feel guilty.
"Let me help you, okay...?" Soap asked, his hand rubbing the side of the wolf's face. His other hand came up and rubbed behind the wolf's ear. "Such a good boy."
The wolf melted at this praise.
Ghost closed his eyes. Why the hell did being called that sound so nice? Good boy... good boy... he wanted to be called that again.
" 'm Soap, okay?" He asked him, and lowered his face to Ghost's. "I'm gonna help ye out."
Ghost leaned up and gave him a lick on his face.
"Ew-" Soap grimaced before laughing. "Just like a dog, aren't ye?" Soap's hands slowly dropped and Ghost whined. "I know, I know, but I gotta get this offa ye."
Soap glanced around. "Shite, uh, 'll be right back." He said and disappeared, running past Ghost.
Ten minutes passed, Ghost thinks. Maybe more. With nothing to do but to whine and beg his human friend would be back soon, it was hard to tell. After fifteen, he was convinced that Soap had abandoned him. Abandoned him in this shithole forest with a fucking beartrap on his leg.
"Hey, 'm back!" A cheery voice greeted from behind, and Ghost instinctually turned and snapped his jaws at whoever was there. As it turns out, it was Soap, the human who had left to get a stick to help him out of the trap. And here Ghost was, attacking him.
"Woah!" Soap yelled and stepped back, falling onto his ass. Ghost snarled and snapped at him wildly as if he forgot who Soap was. Fuck. He didn't want to. He didn't want to hurt him, but he couldn't help it.
Soap's brow furrowed and he slowly got up, using the thick stick he had found to help. "None o' that." He huffed and came in closer, glaring at the wolf as it continued to bark. "Are ye done?" He asked once the wolf slowly came to its senses. "I understand that ah sneaked up on ye but ye cannae just attack me like that, not when I'm helpin ye." Soap huffed, his Scottish accent more pronounced as he scolded the wild animal as if it were a child and he was an angry mother.
"Now, let's get this sorted." Soap walked over to the wolf's leg and stuck the large stick into the trap.
After a minute, Ghost's leg was free. The wolf quickly removed his leg and hobbled away from Soap. The wolf growled at Soap who tossed the stick and trap to the side. "C'mere a sec," Soap beckoned, holding out the two pieces of bread from what was left of his sandwich. "Can I take a look at your leg?" He asked, and tore off a corner of the bread to give to the wolf.
"Bonnie thing, aren't ye?" Soap asked softly as he held the wolf's head in his hands. He was down a slice of bread, the other being in a bag in his pocket. He figured he'd save that for after he looked at the wolf's leg. "What a good boy for me, hmm?"
Ghost felt, well, like he was about to explode. Being called cute, a good boy, this shit was new to him and he felt so confused and happy at the same time. He adjusted his head in Soap's hand to get closer to Soap. "Awww..." Soap cooed and pressed his head to Ghost's. "Cute boy. Wish ye weren't a wild animal, ye probably have a pack to get back to, doncha?"
Ghost had no such thing. Just himself and Soap.
Unfortunately for Ghost, his tail slowly started wagging back and forth when Soap got closer. Goddamn thing had a mind of its own.
"Lay down, ye?" Soap asked, patting the creature's humungeos side. Ghost coplied, stretching out onto his back like an obidient mutt. He hoped Soap would comment on it, and he did.
"Good boy." Ghost's heart fluttered and he waited patiently for Soap to work.
Soap talked him through the whole process. Cleaning, examining, bandaging. Never a moment went by where the Scott didn't talk and Ghost was not complaining. It was a welcome distraction from the pain, and he had (very) quickly grown to enjoy his savior's voice.
A quick pat to Ghost's belly and Soap stood, groaning as he did. "Urf... aw, look at you." Soap grinned and gave the giant creature a few more pets. "C'mon, let's go."
Ghost wondered where they were going as he slowly hobbled up onto his legs.
"Well, ah, bye. Maybe 'll see you around, n' you can introduce me to your pack at some point." Soap waved, and Ghost's heart sank. Soap began to walk back up the hill where the trail was, and Ghost tried to follow.
"Hey, c'mon, don't." Soap sighed when he looked back and saw the wolf following. "You've got creatures who need you, yeah? You can't spend your time following me. I'm sorry." Soap ruffled his fur. "I'll see you around."