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“You’re green. You only first saw action, what? Two years ago? Who knows how you’d adapt to a situation like this. I’ve been doing it for well over ten years. That’s why me, and not you.”
Kaz grabbed the bottle from the man lounging on the fold out couch in the shitty apartment he’d relocated to in the midst of Mother Base’s destruction. Took a swig. He and this so-called Ocelot were only a few weeks into their forced working relationship, and already they’d exchanged a barrage of pointed comments, barbs of suspicion, jealousy, loneliness, leveled against this new stranger because it meant they didn’t have to spend all their time addressing the mess they were both in. The booze had been Ocelot’s idea, actually, flatly stating one day that neither of them could work like this and that they should just hash it all out. One night to air out all the bile they’d been holding down since they first laid eyes on each other, and then they would work, really, truly together.
“You have no clue what those two years were like. I was with him almost every hour of the day, whether it was over codec or--”
“I have listened to all the tapes from that period, Miller. The general theme seems to be you repeatedly humiliating yourself though.”
“You weren’t there! I was with him until he closed his eyes and he... he never said anything about anyone remotely like you. You’ll be lucky if he wakes up and remembers you.” Ocelot’s smirk wavered at that, but fortunately Kaz was far gone enough that he didn’t notice.
“Well, whatever the case, when John wakes up, I’ll be the first one to see him, and there’s nothing you can shout at me here that will change that.” Too far, maybe, he thought for a beat, and then felt himself being hoisted up by his shirt.
“Fuck you.”
“Oh come on Kaz, out of complaints already?” Ocelot was dismissive as ever but in truth they had been at this game for over an hour now, both running out of things to say, their strategies getting increasingly desperate, increasingly caustic. “Really, even if you did have the experience to compare to me, you’re too easy to manipulate...”
Kaz took a swing. Fortunately for Ocelot, Kaz telegraphed the punch just enough that he could swing his neck to the side, avoiding full impact. Even though he was shorter, lighter, Ocelot managed to trip Kaz’s feet out from under him, and Kaz’s hands fell away as he tumbled to the floor in a heap. The next thing he felt was the crushing pressure of one of Ocelot’s boots on his sternum. Ocelot wasn’t seriously hurt, but the peak of his cheekbone that Kaz’s fist had grazed still stung.
“If we’re going to do this, you’re never, ever going to fucking swing at me like that.” Ocelot found himself maliciously grinding his toe down, eliciting a groan from Kaz.
Whatever little fight he had left had been beaten out of him. Kaz’s head was spinning from the booze, stinging from where it had smacked against the cheap linoleum, and this goddamn asshole with his boot on his chest, (why him, Snake, Jesus Christ, why him) was making it hard to breathe, or maybe it was...
His entire body shook with a coughing, phlegmy sob that felt like it had come out of nowhere. Really, he’d just been holding onto it so long he got used to it. Ocelot slowly lifted up the toe of his boot as he watched an undeniable steady trickle of tears begin to drop down the sides of Kaz’s face. As he watched, not sure what to do, he could feel a cold pit gathering in his stomach. Maybe this guy could be pushed too far. Keeping this up could put the whole plan at risk. When it came down to it, they needed to coexist.
“Hey, are you alright?” Ocelot lifted his foot and knelt down next to Kaz, taking his arm and pulling him upright so that he was at least sitting on the floor. Cupping his chin to look into Kaz’s eyes for a moment, checking that they were still in focus and not drifting, he gave him a brisk pat on the cheek, and after a short hesitation, a quick kiss on the opposite one. “There you go, you’re fine. We’ll get along swimmingly after this.”
Kaz sat, slightly stupefied, but his breathing gradually returning to normal. “What the fuck was that? Some kind of Russian taunt?” He rubbed his face slowly, only a mild tinge of annoyance left in his voice.
“What? Oh no, I just wanted to make sure you were alright. Though... lying on the floor crying like that was pretty pathetic, but also kind of cu--”
Kaz growled under his breath before cutting off Ocelot with a taunt of his own.