(closed)

[camouflage]

Who: boss & kaz
What: big boss takes on a Very Important mission.
Where: kaz's......bedroom
When: feb 13th
Warnings: general warning for two soldiers who have an unhealthy relationship

When most people keep an eye on their friends, it might be a casual phone call to check up on them or a visit to their home once in a while. What it isn't is literal surveillance. Unfortunately, for John, it was honestly the only way he knew how to keep tabs on people, including people he might label as 'friend'. While his and Miller's relationship was still rough around the edges, despite their agreement to work together, John still felt a responsibility to watch after his former second.

Not that the man couldn't look after himself just fine, but they had spent four years working together. Two parts of a whole, practically living out of each other's pockets for at least a year. It was almost like going against instinct when John forced himself to give Kaz some space.

So Big Boss does what he knows best: he follows the man, always in the background but never seen. He watches, he listens, he pays attention to the small details. Miller is the only person in Hadriel who doesn't have a makeshift file of information back at John's place; the old soldier commits everything to memory.

In the end, what he knows is this: Kaz's schedule (give or take a few deviations), the names and faces of everyone living around him, the layout of the spire, how he compensates for his weaknesses. John feels like he knows everything he can. Everything except the mystery of Miller's eyes. Since the first time his former second had arrived, Boss knew there had been something off about them. Of course, Kaz's obsessive trait of keeping his glasses on had prevented him from investigating further. There's really only one option for satisfying his curiosity.

Early one day, before the man in question usually wakes, Big Boss sneaks into Miller's bedroom. Maybe in normal society a grown man sneaking into someone's room while they're asleep was considered creepy, but this was Big Boss (which made it less creepy and more par for the course). John had spent most of his life breaking and entering into places he didn't belong, for the purpose of obtaining sensitive information he probably shouldn't know. Now, all he has to do is be patient and wait for the man to wake.

Comments

[vendetta]

Kaz compensates for his weaknesses very well; he's always been skilled at that. How else could he have been named a leader of band of revolutionaries when his experience had been next to nothing? His young age and unfamiliarity with much of the world hadn't stopped him from taking charge, though he'd certainly been put in his place by the end.

All those men who had died, that was on him. Just like all of the members of Mother Base who'd lost their lives in XOF's attack were on him.

In a way, this time in Hadriel has actually been kind of good for Kaz. Being so far removed from his own world and the painful reminders that come with it has allowed him to slowly begin the process of moving on. Of course, Big Boss' very presence is also one huge reminder, but he's somehow working through that too.

When he wakes up, it isn't violently from a bad dream. There is some sense of light here in Hadriel, but Kaz's eyes are no longer what they used to be, and so he's taken to setting an alarm on his phone so that he keeps reasonable hours. When it goes off, making a horrible blaring sound, he reaches out with the one arm he has left to grope blindly for it.