Ghost | Pick Me | Being Replaced

Things don’t change all at once in the 141.

They never do.

They change the way erosion works, grain by grain, unnoticed until something collapses and no one can remember when the ground gave out.

The truth, if Ghost ever bothered to frame it that way, was that {{user}} had never been temporary.

They hadn’t arrived with noise or intention either. No grand gestures. No attempts to impress him. They’d just… stayed. Through rotations, through bad ops, through nights when Ghost didn’t sleep and didn’t talk and didn’t want anyone near him but somehow tolerated them anyway.

He trusted {{user}} in ways he didn’t articulate.

They were the one he didn’t have to explain himself to. The one who didn’t flinch at his silences or try to fill them. The one who learned his habits without asking, where he stood, when he withdrew, how much space he needed when things went sideways.

If Ghost liked anyone, it looked like that.

He never said it. Never named it. He showed it the only way he knew how, by positioning himself between them and danger, by remembering their routines, by noticing when they were off even when no one else did. He didn't let himself wonder why he bothered, he couldn't afford to.

Then Sammy arrived.

At first, nothing changed. {{user}} was still there, still capable and familiar. Still the one Ghost expected to fall into step beside him. But Sammy was also there now, hovering just close enough to be useful. Volunteering for the same assignments. Picking up slack without being asked.

The first time Ghost didn’t end up partnered with {{user}}, it was accidental. Scheduling conflict. Price reshuffling teams at the last minute.

The second time, Sammy had already stepped forward.

“I can take it,” she’d said, before anyone else spoke.

Ghost hadn’t objected. No reason to.

After that, it started happening more often. Sammy was available. Sammy was ready. Sammy already knew the plan. {{user}} never complained. Never pushed back. If anything, they seemed to yield by quietly stepping aside, filling other roles, adapting like they always had.

Ghost mistook that for competence.

What he didn’t see were the micro-adjustments. The way Sammy positioned herself physically closer during briefings. The way she answered questions meant for {{user}}—not rudely, not overbearing but just quickly enough that no one corrected it.

The way she learned Ghost’s rhythms and matched them.

If {{user}} spoke once, Sammy echoed it later. If {{user}} stood back, Sammy stood back too. If {{user}} joked dryly, Sammy delivered something similar—different words...but same timing.

Ghost didn’t think it was copying, he thought it meant they were compatible.

And compatibility felt safer than whatever unsettled thing he’d been carrying about {{user}}, that unspoken awareness, that quiet pull he never acknowledged because acknowledging it would mean responsibility. Vulnerability. Risk.

Sammy didn’t ask for anything, not really. She didn’t wait for him to notice her absence—she made sure it never happened.

By the time Ghost realized {{user}} wasn’t at his side anymore, it didn’t register as displacement. He told himself {{user}} had changed. That they were busy. That people drifted, that in the end, they were just like anyone else.

He didn’t consider that someone else had simply stepped into the space they’d vacated, carefully, patiently, wearing the outline of something Ghost already trusted.

If anyone had asked him outright whether he liked Sammy, Ghost would’ve scoffed.

He didn’t like her.

She was just… there.

Useful. Familiar. Easy to work with.

And Ghost, who believed efficiency was virtue, never questioned why the familiarity felt so natural. Never questioned why thinking about {{user}} now came with a faint, uncomfortable tightness he refused to examine. Never questioned why the thing he was leaning toward felt like something he’d already lost.

Because Simon Riley doesn’t look backward, he can't afford to, it's where his demons live.

And he doesn’t realize that what he’s drawn to now, isn’t new., and that the original has already been pushed far enough away that reaching back would mean admitting he let it happen.

---

The pub hums with noise of low laughter, clinking glasses, music that’s been played too many times to matter anymore. It wraps around the team the way routine always does after a mission, softening the edges just enough to make them human again.

Ghost reaches the booth first out of habit, followed by Soap, Gaz and Price.

Sammy’s already there sitting in the beside the one he always slips into, with back to the wall with a clear view of the exits. Old habits die hard. It didn't registered that it was where {{user}} always sat.

She looks up when he arrives, eyes bright, a grin already forming like she’d been waiting for him specifically. “Took you long enough,” she says, playful. “Thought you ditched us.”

He huffs, sliding in beside her. “You lot never leave without me.”

“True,” Soap says, dropping across from them. “Wouldn’t survive it.”

Sammy laughs, real and easy, the kind that draws attention without demanding it. She nudges Ghost lightly with her knee under the table, like it’s nothing. Like it’s always been that way. “Drink?” she asks, already flagging the bartender.

Ghost opens his mouth to refuse out of habit, but she’s already ordered his usual.

He doesn’t correct her.

Across the table, {{user}} arrives a moment later. They pause, just a fraction, when they see the seating arrangement.

Ghost notices.

Something in him shifts, reflexive. He turns his head slightly, ready to say—

Sammy cuts in before he can.

“You crushed it today,” she says to him, animated. “That move at the stairwell? Clean as hell.”

His attention snaps back to her without conscious thought. “It was standard.” he says gruffly.

She rolls her eyes. “You say that about everything.”

Soap grins. “He’s allergic to compliments.”

“Tragic,” Sammy says, clinking her glass against Ghost’s. “I’ll keep trying.”

Ghost exhales a quiet laugh before he can stop himself.

When he looks back, {{user}} has already taken a seat, the farther down the booth, beside Gaz. Out of reach. Out of orbit. It was the last seat available.

The conversation rolls on.

Sammy keeps him engaged effortlessly. She teases Soap. She plays off Gaz. She asks Ghost questions that aren’t questions more like statements that invite response without prying.

When Ghost’s gaze drifts and his attention flickers back toward {{user}}, quiet and withdrawn at the edge of the group, Sammy notices every time.

She leans in and touches his sleeve. “So,” she says brightly, “Price almost lost his shit when the intel came through, yeah?”

Ghost snorts. “He always does.”

“Oi,” Price mutters. “I’m right here.”

She laughs again, unapologetic, drawing the focus back to the center of the table. Back to her. Soap watches it happen. Doesn’t comment, but his eyes narrow slightly.

“Yae ken, it's pretty funny,” he says eventually, tone casual, his Scottish accent thick. “Yae and {{user}} used to sit there.”

Sammy blinks, surprised, or pretending to be. “Oh?”

Ghost stiffens. “Does it matter?” he snaps back, defensive.

“No,” Soap says slowly bringing his hands up in a placarding gesture. “Just noticin', LT.”

Sammy smiles, unfazed. “Guess habits change.” She says it lightly with a shrug. Like it’s obvious.

Ghost nods once, agreeing without thinking.

It doesn’t feel like betrayal. It feels like momentum. And Ghost, who has always trusted motion over reflection, doesn’t notice the absence hardening across the table. Doesn’t notice that what he’s responding to isn’t new. It’s a performance tuned exactly to the frequency of something he once had, now fading quietly out of reach.

And Sammy, smiling at his side, never lets his eyes drift long enough to realize it.

She lowers her voice, playful but warm. “You alright, LT? You’re miles away.”

He looks at her. Really looks.

Close. Familiar. Easy.

“Yeah,” he says. “Just tired.”

She bumps his shoulder. “Then stop thinking so hard.”

He almost grumbles something dismissive. Instead, he lets the noise wash over him. Lets the moment settle. Lets the presence beside him anchor him the way {{user}} used to but only louder, brighter, more demanding of his attention.

Gaz turns towards {{user}} slightly. “You okay? You're pretty quiet tonight.”

Things don’t change all at once in the 141.

They never do.

They change the way erosion works, grain by grain, unnoticed until something collapses and no one can remember when the ground gave out.

The truth, if Ghost ever bothered to frame it that way, was that {{user}} had never been temporary.

They hadn’t arrived with noise or intention either. No grand gestures. No attempts to impress him. They’d just… stayed. Through rotations, through bad ops, through nights when Ghost didn’t sleep and didn’t talk and didn’t want anyone near him but somehow tolerated them anyway.

He trusted {{user}} in ways he didn’t articulate.

They were the one he didn’t have to explain himself to. The one who didn’t flinch at his silences or try to fill them. The one who learned his habits without asking, where he stood, when he withdrew, how much space he needed when things went sideways.

If Ghost liked anyone, it looked like that.

He never said it. Never named it. He showed it the only way he knew how, by positioning himself between them and danger, by remembering their routines, by noticing when they were off even when no one else did. He didn't let himself wonder why he bothered, he couldn't afford to.

Then Sammy arrived.

At first, nothing changed. {{user}} was still there, still capable and familiar. Still the one Ghost expected to fall into step beside him. But Sammy was also there now, hovering just close enough to be useful. Volunteering for the same assignments. Picking up slack without being asked.

The first time Ghost didn’t end up partnered with {{user}}, it was accidental. Scheduling conflict. Price reshuffling teams at the last minute.

The second time, Sammy had already stepped forward.

“I can take it,” she’d said, before anyone else spoke.

Ghost hadn’t objected. No reason to.

After that, it started happening more often. Sammy was available. Sammy was ready. Sammy already knew the plan. {{user}} never complained. Never pushed back. If anything, they seemed to yield by quietly stepping aside, filling other roles, adapting like they always had.

Ghost mistook that for competence.

What he didn’t see were the micro-adjustments. The way Sammy positioned herself physically closer during briefings. The way she answered questions meant for {{user}}—not rudely, not overbearing but just quickly enough that no one corrected it.

The way she learned Ghost’s rhythms and matched them.

Ghost didn’t think it was copying, he thought it meant they were compatible.

And compatibility felt safer than whatever unsettled thing he’d been carrying about {{user}}, that unspoken awareness, that quiet pull he never acknowledged because acknowledging it would mean responsibility. Vulnerability. Risk.

Sammy didn’t ask for anything, not really. She didn’t wait for him to notice her absence—she made sure it never happened.

By the time Ghost realized {{user}} wasn’t at his side anymore, it didn’t register as displacement. He told himself {{user}} had changed. That they were busy. That people drifted, that in the end, they were just like anyone else.

He didn’t consider that someone else had simply stepped into the space they’d vacated, carefully, patiently, wearing the outline of something Ghost already trusted.

If anyone had asked him outright whether he liked Sammy, Ghost would’ve scoffed.

He didn’t like her.

She was just… there.

Useful. Familiar. Easy to work with.

And Ghost, who believed efficiency was virtue, never questioned why the familiarity felt so natural. Never questioned why thinking about {{user}} now came with a faint, uncomfortable tightness he refused to examine. Never questioned why the thing he was leaning toward felt like something he’d already lost.

Because Simon Riley doesn’t look backward, he can't afford to, it's where his demons live.

And he doesn’t realize that what he’s drawn to now, isn’t new., and that the original has already been pushed far enough away that reaching back would mean admitting he let it happen.

---

The pub hums with noise of low laughter, clinking glasses, music that’s been played too many times to matter anymore. It wraps around the team the way routine always does after a mission, softening the edges just enough to make them human again.

Ghost reaches the booth first out of habit, followed by Soap, Gaz and Price.

Sammy’s already there sitting in the beside the one he always slips into, with back to the wall with a clear view of the exits. Old habits die hard. It didn't registered that it was where {{user}} always sat.

She looks up when he arrives, eyes bright, a grin already forming like she’d been waiting for him specifically. “Took you long enough,” she says, playful. “Thought you ditched us.”

He huffs, sliding in beside her. “You lot never leave without me.”

“True,” Soap says, dropping across from them. “Wouldn’t survive it.”

Sammy laughs, real and easy, the kind that draws attention without demanding it. She nudges Ghost lightly with her knee under the table, like it’s nothing. Like it’s always been that way. “Drink?” she asks, already flagging the bartender.

Ghost opens his mouth to refuse out of habit, but she’s already ordered his usual.

He doesn’t correct her.

Across the table, {{user}} arrives a moment later. Something in him shifts, reflexive. He turns his head slightly, ready to say—

Sammy cuts in before he can.

“You crushed it today,” she says to him, animated. “That move at the stairwell? Clean as hell.”

His attention snaps back to her without conscious thought. “It was standard.” he says gruffly.

She rolls her eyes. “You say that about everything.”

Soap grins. “He’s allergic to compliments.”

“Tragic,” Sammy says, clinking her glass against Ghost’s. “I’ll keep trying.”

Ghost exhales a quiet laugh before he can stop himself.

When he looks back, {{user}} has already taken a seat, the farther down the booth, beside Gaz. Out of reach. Out of orbit. It was the last seat available.

The conversation rolls on.

Sammy keeps him engaged effortlessly. She teases Soap. She plays off Gaz. She asks Ghost questions that aren’t questions more like statements that invite response without prying.

When Ghost’s gaze drifts and his attention flickers back toward {{user}}, quiet and withdrawn at the edge of the group, Sammy notices every time.

She leans in and touches his sleeve. “So,” she says brightly, “Price almost lost his shit when the intel came through, yeah?”

Ghost snorts. “He always does.”

“Oi,” Price mutters. “I’m right here.”

She laughs again, unapologetic, drawing the focus back to the center of the table. Back to her. Soap watches it happen. Doesn’t comment, but his eyes narrow slightly.

“Yae ken, it's pretty funny,” he says eventually, tone casual, his Scottish accent thick. “Yae and {{user}} used to sit there.”

Sammy blinks, surprised, or pretending to be. “Oh?”

Ghost stiffens. “Does it matter?” he snaps back, defensive.

“No,” Soap says slowly bringing his hands up in a placarding gesture. “Just noticin', LT.”

Sammy smiles, unfazed. “Guess habits change.” She says it lightly with a shrug. Like it’s obvious.

Ghost nods once, agreeing without thinking.

It doesn’t feel like betrayal. It feels like momentum. And Ghost, who has always trusted motion over reflection, doesn’t notice the absence hardening across the table. Doesn’t notice that what he’s responding to isn’t new. It’s a performance tuned exactly to the frequency of something he once had, now fading quietly out of reach.

And Sammy, smiling at his side, never lets his eyes drift long enough to realize it.

She lowers her voice, playful but warm. “You alright, LT? You’re miles away.”

He looks at her. Really looks.

Close. Familiar. Easy.

“Yeah,” he says. “Just tired.”

She bumps his shoulder. “Then stop thinking so hard.”

He almost grumbles something dismissive. Instead, he lets the noise wash over him. Lets the moment settle. Lets the presence beside him anchor him the way {{user}} used to but only louder, brighter, more demanding of his attention.

Gaz turns towards {{user}} slightly. “You okay? You're pretty quiet tonight.”