More Than Human

Chapter 30: Fetch

Soap fiddled with his fingers, and rocked back and forth on his heels for a moment. He glanced at Ghost and found him staring slightly over his head with a glimmer of humor in his eyes. He felt a twitch from the top of his head and quickly reached up, hands meeting pointed ears.

"Oh seriously?" He bemoaned. Those were almost as embarrassing as the tail.

Ghost rose from the couch and approached him, he reached a hand up and felt along the base of one of the ears. Soap shivered at the touch.

"What is it?"

"They're just, sort of, sensitive."

Ghost chuckled and brought his other hand up so that he could feel both. One of them was flopped over. He always thought that the ears were supposed to fully perk up once he was an adult. But the one never did. Another aspect of his embarrassment.

Ghost's attention was suddenly drawn away and he was lifting up the sweatshirt Soap wore. Soap yelped at the sudden cool air, but that was soon irrelevant as Ghost's fingers were gently trailing along his side. Slowing and dancing along the edge of his healing bullet wound. His other hand gripped onto Soap's hip and held him steady as he examined it.

"Looks like it's healing well. No need for the doctor's concern." Ghost mused.

"Ah- uh-huh." Soap nodded, brain hazy from the proximity and touch.

Ghost's eyes flicked back up to his, and Soap was unable to prevent himself from falling forward to hide his face in the man's shoulder. Trying to conceal the flush that had settled across his cheeks.

"You alright, Johnny?"

"A-aye. It's just, um, the ears aren't the only thing sensitive during the full. Just in general. I get a bit..."

Ghost let out a low breathy laugh, "Really? Is it bad?"

Soap shook his head, "Not now. Afterward I'll probably lock myself in a room and ride it out."

Ghost hummed and scratched the back of his neck at the base of his skull. That pulled a satisfied rumble from him and he burrowed his face farther into the fabric of Simon's shirt. He wasn't sure what Ghost seemed to be contemplating, but he was quickly distracted from trying to figure it out when the man spoke.

"You hungry?"

Soap's ears perked up and he instantly pulled back, "I am so goddamn hungry, Simon. You have no idea."

Ghost laughed again before leading him into the kitchen.

When night began to fall, Ghost was the one who decided to come and watch him. He grabbed everything he would need for the night beforehand so that he could lock the door and make sure Soap didn't try busting the door down again.

They had fixed the pillow and blanket set up from the night before so that they were once again covering the cold cement, making the whole experience at least a bit more comfortable. As soon as the doors were locked Soap flopped down and began working in his journal to wait for the change.

Ghost read his book for a while, occasionally looking up to check on the sergeant. Over time, Ghost began to notice him getting more fidgety, he was scratching at his skin frequently, and then he began to roll around on the blankets. From the way he moved he was clearly struggling to get comfortable while also trying to scratch whatever insatiable itch was cropping up in his flesh.

After a few minutes of this he looked up at Ghost, "Could you maybe, turn around? I've gotta strip if I don't want yer nice clothes getting ruined."

It was a set of sweats, Ghost would hardly call them nice clothes, but he didn't argue. He got up and approached Soap so that he could get the belt draped over his neck and attach it to the chain. It was long enough that he would be able to move around the barn, but just shy of the door. Then Ghost walked back across the room and sat down facing away from him.

He wouldn't turn back until he was told to. Ghost didn't bring up the fact that he had already seen him nude at this point after his last change. Clearly his Johnny was the bashful type about these things.

The temptation to turn and check on Soap steadily grew as he started to groan and his breathing became strained and erratic. The sound of flesh stretching told him that Soap was definitely changing. The groans began to deepen and turn into rumbles that echoed across the metal walls of the barn. The noises went on for a full five minutes before they abruptly stopped. Only the sound of breathing in their wake.

Ghost was about to turn back around, figuring that Soap wouldn't be able to give him verbal permission in beast form, when footsteps padded behind him, along with the sound of panted breaths. He flinched and turned around finally when he felt a cold wet nose against the back of his neck.

Soap instantly sat back on his haunches and tilted his head at him. Ghost had to look up at him from his position on the floor. The wolf's tongue was lolled out and hung over the glistening teeth in its maw. The long claws it had would be frightening to behold if Ghost didn't know the person behind them.

Soap was looking at him expectantly, and Ghost followed his gaze to the bag he had brought with him.

"Something you want in there, Johnny?" He asked before dragging the bag over to himself.

Soap fidgeted on his massive paws and it was a bit humorous to see the behavior of an eager puppy being displayed by such a massive creature. Ghost unzipped the bag and pulled out a large red ball he had found in a closet of the cabin.

"This what you smelled, sergeant?"

Soap's fidgeting and little yet deep boof of a bark told him that he was correct. He tossed the ball between his hands for a moment, amused at the way Soap's massive head twitched back and forth as he followed it with his eyes.

After a bit of debate with himself, Ghost determined that a little fetch in the barn would be alright after his exploits the previous night hadn't disrupted the healing of his wounds. He gave the ball a hefty throw across the space and Soap darted after it. Ghost watched a little entranced as his jaw seemed to unhinge massively wide as he grabbed the ball. It was unnecessary given the ball's size, but he did it all the same. Maybe he had simply done it to show off, this was Soap after all.

Soap eagerly brought it back to him, chain jingling as his massive tail smacked into it. He dropped it on Ghost's outstretched legs, and Ghost couldn't help the slight grimace he made as the drool from the ball soaked into his jeans. He shook it off and hoisted it up for another throw.

By the fifth throw, Ghost was convinced they would be doing this all night.