Chapter Text
There was one thing that was a given when it came to the KorTac guys - stay the fuck away from König. It wasn’t a spoken rule or anything, but everyone tended to avoid him whenever he was around. He would loom in corners and sit silently like a mountain at tables, sending people running off whenever he so much as looked in their direction with his shadowy crystalline eyes.
It made you curious eventually, how could it not? Why was everyone so afraid of him? Was it his sheer size alone or was it the dubious nature of KorTac combined with his blank crocodilian stares? Perhaps a combination of all of those, you’d figured.
Though, one day you finally decided to settle your curiosity, you’d thought he looked harmless enough - you caught him cleaning his gun and humming an unfamiliar tune in the kitchen. There was no one else around, just König and the meticulously laid out pieces of his weapon laying on the table.
You supposed he was probably unaware of any observers, you were nicknamed Sneak for a reason after all (much to your chagrin, what kind of a name was that? It didn’t exactly inspire awe or fear like the other guys in your unit). So you stopped in your tracks, deciding to join him instead of carrying on down the hall. He couldn’t be as bad as people made him out to be, right?
“Just back from a mission?” You asked, making your way into the kitchen.
Most people shit themselves when you did that - when you’d stroll in and break the silence out of nowhere. Though König merely looked up from the piece he’d been focusing on polishing and fixed his eyes on you. It was as if he’d known you’d been there all along.
“Yes,” he finally said, quiet voice muffled through his hood.
He sounded strained, as if he might have said more, but thought better of it. You smiled and fetched a mug from one of the creaky cabinets and set it silently on the counter, pausing as you were about to reach for the kettle.
“Would you like some tea?” You offered.
He tilted his head to the side for a moment, considering your question as if it merited more brain power than it did. He let the silence brew a little before he shook his head, the heavy material of his sniper hood accentuating his answer.
“No thank you,” he said briskly.
You shrugged and offered another smile for good measure. This was probably the most anyone from around the base had talked to the big guy, you wanted to set a good impression. You wanted to show him there was someone around that wasn’t so afraid - like the comms guys - or merely indifferent - as was the case with guys like your lieutenant.
The room was rumbling with the noise of the kettle as you set the water to boil, though after a few seconds you realised that the humming that had been there before had stopped. König had gone back to his work, but he was silent this time. You missed the sound of the old fashioned tune that had been bouncing through the corridors before.
“What was the song you were humming?”
You’d waited to ask your question once the water was finished boiling. You had your back to him as you poured it generously into your cup and set the kettle back down again, turning to see Königs measured stare toward you. He didn’t look very pleased, his eyes were narrowing and his gloved grip on the cloth he was holding looked tight. The steam that was billowing out of your cup could very well be pouring out of his ears under that hood for all you’d known.
“I didn’t mean to eavesdrop or anything, I just heard it when I was coming into the room,” you explained, holding your hands up in appeasement.
König continued to stare at you with that shark-like gaze, as if you were a silly warbling seal swimming up to him. You tilted your head, wondering if he was going to get angry, but instead he looked back toward the doorway and peered around as if someone were waiting there, ready to strike.
“Something wrong?” You asked, following his gaze and trying to find what he was searching for.
“You ask a lot of questions.”
Königs eyes returned to you and you stared dumbly back at him. What could you say to that?
“Just making conversation,” you laughed, stirring the darkening water in your cup. “But I guess you’re the quiet type? I’ll leave you alone soon, I’m almost done.”
You were just about to dispose of your teabag and be on your way when the silence was broken by his gravelly voice again. He probably could’ve done with taking you up on your offer, his mouth was clearly dry from disuse.
“No one ever talks to me when I’m here…”
He trailed off as if in thought, considering his next words carefully. You tilted your head this time and felt your heartbeat pattering in your chest, thudding faster as you thought about what he said. It must be crappy to be ignored all the time.
“Did someone put you up to this?” He finally asked, eyes narrowing again.
“What? God no, I just didn’t want to do that thing I always do where I walk into a room like a silent assassin and scare the crap outta you when I finally make a noise,” you babbled, “plus It’s kinda rude to ignore people, yknow? And doubly rude to make a drink and not offer to someone else that’s sitting right there.”
Your voice pitched probably three times higher than it normally did, you sounded like a squeaky toy. Finally, you were beginning to understand why most people kept out of his way. That calculating glare could freeze the devil himself - you felt like you were walking along the edge of the Andes.
“Oh.”
That was all he said. Oh. He sounded light, his tone had shifted once again. Well that was better than, I don’t believe you and you’re a minute away from being at the end of this reassembled rifle. However, you’d wished he’d said more.
Instead, he went back to his work and kept his head down. His eyes were completely hidden from your view now.
End of interaction. Peace out.
You frowned, but decided not to pester him anymore. Instead, you walked out of the room with your cup in hand, ducking out like a shadow and sticking to the walls.
Note to self - stay the fuck away from König.
-☠️-
The next time you encountered him, König was once again alone in the kitchen, and this time you weren’t looking to disturb his peace. However, you did really want to make a cup of tea. You paused from your spot by the doorway, angling yourself so that you couldn’t be seen, and considered your next move, wondering if it was worth being in there alone with him again after your last not so friendly encounter.
Don’t be ridiculous, you thought to yourself. It wasn’t like he could actually do anything to you, you’d just go in and get your tea and leave again. In and out, nice and quiet. You’d be fine.
Though, when you finally crept into the kitchen you were faced immediately with his blank stare as he stood by the freshly boiled kettle. Finally someone had given you a taste of your own medicine and scared the shit out of you. You jumped and clutched at your heart, glaring over at him when you inevitably recovered.
“Tea, yeah?”
You frowned, looking confusedly at the hooded man. What?
“Tea?” you repeated, feeling like you were in some kind of sketch show.
“Would you like me to make you a cup?” he asked, voice lilting with amusement.
Oh!
He’d practically chased you out the room last time for asking that very same question and now he was playing house for you? You felt your lip curve into a smile and nodded your head. This was a welcome change to being accused of toying with him.
You were about to tell him to get one of the herbal teas you kept shoved to the back, the ones no one else ever touched because they’d be too afraid of the mockery, but you were stopped before you could open your mouth. König selected one of the flowery bags without being told and plopped it in a fresh cup of boiled water before he tended to his own cup, stirring in a dark instant coffee.
“What have you been doing today?” he asked cheerfully, hood shifting as he motioned his head.
Had you emerged into another universe? Was this a different König you were speaking to? You smirked to yourself seeing as he couldn’t catch you with his back turned and took a second to think about your answer. It’s not like you’d had an exciting day, but him being chatty all of a sudden really had you second guessing yourself.
“Uh, did some training, hung out with some of the guys for a bit. I was actually just watching a movie there, but I got thirsty…soooo here I am,” you said finally, watching as he stirred up the drinks. “What about you?”
“I was here for a debriefing, but I was dismissed before it ended and now I seem to be at a loose end,” he answered, finally handing you your tea.
“Huh, that’s annoying.”
You both sat in silence for a moment after that, you sipped on your hot tea and watched with amusement as König took to looking at his coffee, stuck in a dilemma. He couldn’t very well drink his coffee with his hood on, so either he would have to remove it, or he’d have to remove himself from the room.
Oh, this should be interesting.
Your eyes widened as he made up his mind and lifted the bottom of his hood, revealing his stubbly golden chin and soft pink lips. He was hiding a pretty face under there, a little bruised, but very defined. From what you could make out of his jaw at least, he seemed like a good looking man.
You briefly thought of Ghost, remembering back to all the times Soap teased the Lieutenant for probably being a “big ugly bastard under that mask” and realised you assumed the same of König. Well there was that theory out the window.
Once König finished taking a drink his eyes wandered over to yours and you panicked, feeling your heart leap into your throat as you raced to cover up your staring. You’d made headway with him, and you didn’t want to set him back by making him feel like a museum exhibit. Not to mention, you’d flustered yourself thinking about how soft his lips looked.
“You wanna watch the rest of my movie with me?” you asked hurriedly, hoping to distract him from your mini freak out.
When you finally met his gaze again, König looked surprised. His eyes were widened into crystal saucers, but he soon seemed to recover and tilted his head at you, considering his answer.
“What are you watching?”
“Uh, I only have a few movies downloaded on my tablet, but I was just starting to watch Rocky if you like that? We can always put something else on though, I’ve seen it a million times…”
König paused in thought, then looked back at you.
“I’ve never seen it.”
“Never seen- What? I don’t understand?”
“I believe that was the correct way to say I’ve never watched Rocky, no?” He laughed.
His voice sounded light and airy, nothing like it had the last time you’d encountered one another. It almost felt like you were just two normal people conversing, instead of you talking to the scariest man on the base. Well, neck and neck for the scariest man on the base - Ghost was top dog in that area most of the time.
“No, like grammatically sure, but I just don’t think those are words that should be said. Rocky is a classic,” you explained, looking at him as seriously as if he’d just said he liked to kick old people in his down time. “We gotta fix this!”
“We do?”
“Yes! Just- trust me, this is happening. Stay there, ok?”
“Is that an order?” he asked, amusement snaking around his words.
“Yes, soldier,” you grinned,
With that you raced off to get your tablet and found yourself back in the kitchen quicker than light speed, practically hearing the whoosh of air that fell behind you as it feathered through your hair. You were so caught up in the euphoria of showing someone one of your favourite films, you didn’t even blink at the fact you’d ordered König to sit and watch it with you.
Though, despite being all too capable of moving away because he wasn’t taking any of your shit, König remained in place and continued to sip at his coffee. You walked in just as he was taking another drink, letting you confirm for a fact that your original thoughts were indeed correct. There was a good looking guy hidden under all those layers somewhere.
Focus!
You pulled yourself out of your thoughts and motioned for him to join you on the ratty couch in the corner - if you were going to be providing him with a cinematic education, you resolved that you weren’t going to have a sore ass afterwards. So, with that, he silently got up and joined you, sitting his massive frame down on the other end of the small leather couch. The seat was cosy at the best of times, but it was especially cramped with the giant you had next to you.
You decided not to think about it too much. Instead, you set the scrubber back to its starting position on your tablet and held it at the edge of your lap, making sure that König could see. Then, without further ado you hit play, and watched giddily for his reactions, excited to see what he thought of the movie.
While it played, there were a few people that came into the kitchen. They clearly hadn’t spotted you two in the corner to begin with, but once they had they set about getting what they wanted and left like there was a great migration. Even with you there, it wasn’t enough to offset the fear of König, people that usually smiled when they saw you were turning away like you were sat there licking a leper.
You paid them no mind, instead you bounced between watching Rocky and watching König, grinning to yourself when he smiled at parts or gasped softly to himself. He was a very kinetic movie watcher, he fidgeted and raced his knees, but despite that he stayed next to you watching the whole thing.
It was priceless. You’d not only broken down König’s barriers enough that he was actually talking to you, but you had him watching one of your favourite films and he was enjoying it!
“So, what’d you think?” you asked as soon as the credits played.
You weren’t letting him think about it - you wanted his honest answer.
“I liked it, it wasn’t what I expected, actually…”
“Oh?”
“I thought it was just going to be a dumb boxing movie, but it wasn’t,” he shrugged. “His character was pretty interesting too. He kinda comes off as someone that would be a big two dimensional aggressive guy, but he was actually pretty nice.”
Like someone else you know…
You smiled to yourself. You’d both succeeded in befriending König and getting him to watch Rocky, so your mission for the day had been achieved and you could go to bed happy. No doubt, you’d be thinking of what you’d seen under that hood in your last conscious thoughts, but that was for later.
“Well, thank you for watching the movie with me. I suppose I better go find my team now,” König murmured politely, shifting from his position.
During the movie he’d drawn closer to you, you supposed to see better, but couldn’t help noticing that he’d been touching you for half the run time. His big bulky thighs were pressed up against yours and he leaned into you more and more over time, almost stifling you with his warmth. Though, you felt like you missed his body heat now as he stood up and walked over to the door.
Though, he didn’t leave without acknowledging you again.
“I’ll see you another time, yeah?”
“Course! Thanks for the tea as well, you brewed it just right,” you complimented, lifting your now empty cup.
He didn’t answer, he just nodded and you could’ve sworn you caught a twinkle in his eyes before he walked off out of sight. Well that just happened.
You sat almost giggling as you thought about how close you’d been to him, and how many glances you’d gotten of that chiselled jawline. If you weren’t certain before, you were sure now. You had a crush on König - The resident scarecrow. You knew you had a thing for big guys and accents, but for a time you’d managed to suppress your interest in König given his reputation. Though, now that had all changed apparently.
Just as you were getting up to get a bottle of water, you froze as you heard Ghost’s rasp from down the hallway and shook yourself off. You couldn’t walk around with your head in the stars while he was around. He’d ask questions, and you hardly wanted to talk to him about your new found crush.
“Oh, well look who it is, Johnny, little Sneak.”
You bit your lip and squeezed the water bottle in your hand, hoping to relieve the pressure that had creeped down your spine. They were onto you already.
“Two cups o’ tea was it?” Soap teased, eyeing up the mugs you’d just placed in the sink.
“No, just one,” you said through a strained smile. “Can I make you both some?”
“You know I prefer the normal stuff,” Ghost said, emphasising exactly what he thought of your fruity herbal tea, “but I hear you had someone joining you, and like Johnny so observantly pointed out - you got two cups there, sweetheart.”
Fuck. Clearly gossip had got round and now you were in an interrogation with the only two men that could put most old biddies to shame. You weren’t ready for their teasing, if they got wind of your feelings for König it was over for you. It would be all there was to talk about.
“I did have someone join me,” you answered nonchalantly. “You know I hardly ever sit by myself.”
“Hmm, usually don’t take up König’s company though, do you?”
You felt your body go rigid and licked your lips, uncomfortably standing there as Ghost kept perfect eye contact with you while he poured water into the kettle. He fetched a pot noodle from one of the cupboards and you found your breath again when he finally looked away. Your nerve was somewhere outside the field of his vision.
“I was just watching a movie with him.”
“You were watching Rocky with him,” Soap noted. “That’s your favourite, right?”
“Well, yeah…I always watch it.”
“Sharing your favourite movie with your favourite KorTac operator, sounds cosy,” Ghost chuckled, pouring the boiled water into his instant noodles.
You swore your legs were going as soft as the contents of that black plastic pot. You could only dream that the ground swallowed you up in a whirlpool of water and took you away. Though, unfortunately, you remained stuck in place.
“He’s hardly my favourite, I just started talking to the guy,” you frowned.
“So you’ll be talking more with him then?” Ghost asked, stirring the boiling cup with a fork.
You had half a mind to knock the pot noodle all over him, and if he weren’t leagues above you in rank and stature, you actually might have. You’d pity the poor person that would do that to Ghost though. Instead, you shrugged and got on with washing the mugs and made a move to leave, but you were blocked by Soap, who’s bulging arm was hardly an easy obstacle to overcome.
“The Lieutenant asked you a question,” Soap grinned.
You sighed.
“It’s polite to make conversation,” you said simply, tilting your chin up to meet Ghost’s gaze. “So, I suppose I will, yes.”
“Well, as long as it’s all just polite conversation, Sneaky.” Ghost said, tilting his shoulders up teasingly.
You frowned at the two men in front of you and looked between them, catching the hard look that was in both their faces - or rather in Ghost’s eyes. Despite the fact they were above you, it hardly concerned them who you spend your time talking to. Especially when it was someone that wasn’t even in your squad. It’s not like he was a superior or anything…
“I hardly see why it concerns the two of you.”
Soap raised his eyebrows, surprised you had the balls to come back at Ghost like that. And soon enough you were doing the same as you realised what you’d actually said.
“It doesn’t concern us, it concerns Price,” Ghost shrugged, “He said, and you can go confirm with the Captain if you like ‘I catch Sneaky and that psychotic mammoth cunt together, they’re going to be scrubbing toilets well into retirement’.”
“Price didn’t call him a cunt to be fair,” Soap corrected, smiling as he caught your gaping mouth. “But yeah, that was the long and short of it.”
How the fuck did word get all the way to Price? You hardly had to ask, it was definitely the gossips in front of you that had told him. And even so, to your earlier point, why did it matter to Price who you ‘got together’ with? And scrubbing toilets? Really?
“You two are fucking with me aren’t you?” you smiled, tilting your head in hopes the captain wasn’t seriously putting the order out for you to stay away from König.
Ghost and Soap both looked at each other and laughed, tipping their heads back like they were in a cartoon. For a brief second you had hope that you were right, and that would be the end of it, but soon enough Ghost was staring you dead in the eyes again with that ghoulish look of his and killed your moment of peace dead.
“Oh no, he was absolutely serious, love. He doesn’t like König one bit.”
You gulped and begun to reconsider your crush. Was a handsome jawline worth the risk of being knee deep in piss?
“If you ask us though, you make a real sharp couple o’ coconuts,” Soap laughed, recalling a line from the aforementioned film.
Oh now it was going to get childish. That was your queue to leave.
“Oh really?” you replied sarcastically, moving around him finally and heading toward the doorway.
You were ready to escape from their scrutinising looks and dumb comments.
“You’re right, Johnny. It’s just like the movie - they’re dumb and he’s shy! Wait - it’s the other way around innit?”
You growl out in frustration and traipse down the hall, listening to their hyena like laughter die out as you escape from them. Being stuck with them on the next mission was going to be hell. As was another encounter with a certain forbidden KorTac operator...