A Living Shield (John Price x OC/Reader slowburn)

20) Breaking Point

Wraith do this. Wraith do that. Wraith that's wrong. Just leave it to me.

It was all you'd heard the last few days as Griffin kept you working, reworking and digging through a shit ton of papers. Commanding you around like a little puppet, while she just kept tippy tapping away on her laptop. As if timing didn't matter. Like there was no urgency to her. And did she like anything you came up with? Ofcourse not.

You were at the end of your rope by day 4, as Price didn't really say a whole lot about the situation, dug in behind his own piles of information, probably trying to just drown Griffin out. But you felt rather on your own in this, considering the entirety of the base was now also talking about the new bombshell walking around, and even your own teammates seemed to talk favorably about her. No one really noticing how sneakily she was making your life hell for absolutely no reason. Well it wasn't exactly without reason. It was just a childish one.

She didn't like you near Price, that was clear. Once again, he was your superior so you didn't really know what she expected of you in that regard. You were sometimes an active barrier between the two, whenever your captain seemed to be too tired to deal with her.

Was it a little dirty because you loved getting in her way? Yeah.

But she deserved it after all the shit she'd been pulling on you behind everyone's backs. And you needed some way of getting back at her.

You also learned to not lose sight of your phone ever since. History was not going to repeat itself on you.

You'd all made some progress on the Killswitch case, deciding to meet later during the day for a change, as Price said you could use a couple of hours off. Not sure whether that was his way of finally getting you to clear your head after the meeting fiasco or if he himself also needed a break.

Either way, it was a welcome change you took greedily. It gave you the opportunity to take up your gym routine again for a bit. And for once, the entire team seemed to be present.

[Song 🎵: The Middle - Jimmy Eat World 🔂]

You, Gaz and Soap had woken up early together, all in workout gear for once, as you'd woken each other up to make sure you'd actually get to the gym on time. Loudly banging on your dorm doors to piss each other off. Childish, really, but fun either way. Nothing better than seeing bleary eyed Soap in his underwear, yelling Scottish curses as you'd blamed Gaz. Breakfast was unnecessary, you ate up their morning bickering instead.

Everyone looked so lightly dressed for once, as you exited your front door. It was quite the difference from usual. Soap wore his typical grey sleeveless zip-up hoodie when working out, something you deemed cringy on anyone you saw. And yet somehow this man pulled it off every time. He said it accentuated his arms nicely, something he was rightfully proud of. You knew secretly he just didn't have the energy to pull out all the stops. Soap was anything but a morning person and even his mohawk had drawn the short end of the stick today.

Gaz on your right looked handsome as ever, early mornings never really seeming to faze him. He had an attitude almost every hour of the day, though you knew better than to badger him when he just woke up. And as he walked with you guys, even you could appreciate the compression t-shirt that encompassed his torso just right. Sweatpants hugging his arse so tight, even Soap had felt the need to slap it as you'd left out the door. Much to Gaz's annoyance as the two continued their bickering from earlier. Something you now regretted playing a hand in.

Naturally, you also didn't look your usual, having put on an outfit for working out. Your usually braided hair, rolled up in a bun to secure it so no strands got in the way. Your sports bra and tank top hidden underneath a more streamlined zip up, made for ventilation rather than warmth. And your legs were covered by neutral coloured work out leggings, hiding underneath your sweatshorts. Showing too much skin on base never really sat well with you, so you went for a middle ground. Shaped but not bare. Too much attention on your features always made you self aware.