"I can't call Soap 'Johnny'," Alejandro grunts, an obvious smile in his voice.
"Don't," Soap answers immediately. "Only Ghost can pull that off."
Roach lifts an eyebrow. "And what am I supposed to call you then? Johnuald the third?"
Soap snorts, quietly enough that the others don't hear him, and sends him a look. Even in the dark, it's very obvious how much of a sunshine he is, his blue eyes sparkling with mirth.
Damn, Roach had never fallen for someone this fast before. Even with Simon, it had taken a few months. But for some reason, Johnny is so precious to him that he'd die - again - for him in a heartbeat.
"Jonathon? Jonah? Johnson? Johntay? I can keep going, I already had that conversation with Price years ago, and I had the internet back then. I had a pretty long list and I remember most of it."
"Cannae ye make yerself useful instead of bein a nuisance?" Soap whispers with a smile after quickly checking around that no one was paying him attention.
Roach gasps. "But being a nuisance is my true calling! You could say I like 'bugging' people, huh, get it, get it?" He beams when Soap shakes his head at him and goes through the wall.
The shadows are crawling outside, of course. He roams around, getting a rough headcount, then gets back at Soap with all the information. It's doable, honestly. Especially since Simon and him rigged several cars with explosives.
He is still a bit worried though, about Johnny's wound. He's not sure how it's possible, how he's still standing, but then again, he's a ghost talking to a living person, so there's that.
Rudy had said that no one except Alejandro can kill Alejandro, and Roach just has to wonder if Johnny got kind of the same deal. But Ale never gave any indication that he was seeing the burning person floating above his new friends, so maybe it's not the same.
With the clear intel he gives Soap, they make quick work of the Shadows and Price picks them up at the wall. If he was able to actually haunt people and not just follow them around uselessly, he'd stop haunting the Captain immediately as a thanks.
Because he's pretty sure Johnny actually needs some intense medical attention. He said that it didn't feel different than a leg or shoulder wound, but those definitely need more than just stitches and painkillers anyway.
It's very heartwarming, watching Soap greet the rest of the team with a puppyish energy, and he has to admit that it is kind of funny seeing Gaz and Price's faces when they notice the bullet hole in the front of his shirt.
The sight of Simon helping Johnny move along with a hand on the small of his back leaves him with mixed feelings.
There's the "I knew it!! I told you so!!" that he was expecting, of course, because he's always right and he did know it would happen. But there's also a pinch in his chest that he hadn't really expected. It's a feeling that he hadn't really felt since a really long time, since he was a teenager, probably.
Jealousy.
He hates it, he's always hated it. But the worst is he doesn't even know who he's jealous of. Perhaps he's finally remembering that he's dead and they're not, that all this flirting he's been doing with Johnny wouldn't have led to anything.
The grown arse sunshine of a man turns his head back, looking slightly confused, looking for him. When his eyes land on him, he beams so hard that it actually illuminates his whole face and Roach can't do anything except gravitate towards him like a moth to a light.
Wrong bug, he snorts internally.
"What's with you, smiley face?" he hears Simon ask when he gets closer.
Johnny is still looking straight at him, his smile getting softer. "Nothing," he answers, his gaze burning Roach more than the fire had. "Just glad you're here and glad we're leaving."
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I choose to believe that once Tony Stark had Morgan, he was freaked out of his mind. Why? Well, his parental instincts were supposed to kick in once he laid eyes on her. Tony didn't identify anything like that appearing once he did exactly that. Neither did they start working after she fell asleep in his arms, or after they arrived home. They seemed to do their thing on Pepper, why didn't he feel something so very different and unfamiliar. Where is the thing that is supposed to ensure his child is safe and sound?
A few days later Morgan starts trying to take something dangerous and put it inside her mouth much like babies do. He instantly spots her doing that, and with a horrified expression in his face stops her. Pepper jokes "see? Your parent sense is working just fine."
That's when he realizes, he does have those. He simply didn't know that was what it was. The reason was pretty clear; he expected to feel something unknown to him before. Meanwhile Tony has already experienced that over the course of the previous 1.5 years.
He promptly loses his balance and breaks down in the middle of the kitchen.
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