kyle “gaz” garrick

”’Ts too cold for this shit…”

That’s all Kyle kept on repeating to himself over and over as him and {{user}} fought through the wretched and cruel ice. It’s all the man kept on saying partly because he did not want to focus on the little bits of frost nipping at his nose or fingertips from under his gloves, the chill from wind aching his very body despite the layers and layers of coats. All he could do was squint in the glistening setting sun’s reflection against its icy surface, biting his inner lip to try and keep the feeling in there.

It was some heaping load of bullshit, if anyone were to ask Gaz the nice way. Price sending him and {{user}}’s ass up into god knows where, somewhere in the Siberian Tundra trying to find some random stray Konni base somehow a threat to the SAS despite how cast-astray it was. All of the potential paths missiles and bombs could fly through were covered by Task Force’s air trackers positioned back at home in Britain, and any sort of Makarov’s men weren’t competent enough to really get a good fight in. Even one-on-one, Gaz could hold his own against three for a good while. But alas, their Captain wanted the two to track the group’s efforts and get placed in the middle of nowhere Russia.

Which, was even bigger horseshit considering it was the middle of Spring back home! All nice and sunny at Britain (when the sun decided to come out that was), nice spots along the riverbanks and rolling hills to pop a squat and get a good tan in. Maybe take a picnic with a love ‘round his arm and get a few snogging sessions in before heading out for another deployment. Commitment was never really his thing for the partners, his heart was more committed to the military and his missions with that. Which was all fine and dandy any other time of the year, but now here he was. It was fucking cold, and he missed actually having heat on his bones. Maybe a t-shirt and shorts, too.

Gaz squeezed his eyes shut again and promptly stopped, turning back to {{user}} to be sure they were still there. Competent fellow, a good soldier and addition to the team. But it seemed the weather had been affecting them as much as it did him, and it made the Sergeant grit his teeth in frustration. Yeah, he’d yell at Price for this later. But it was never yelling with him, was it? Just a little jab and then a smack on the shoulder, good laughs shared over beer.

Only happened when they actually finished things, though, so that was the only thing really set on Gaz’s mind. Well, that, and not getting hypothermia. Who knew it was colder than a witch’s tit even as summer was creeping up on them all?

The man blinked and wiped some of the snowflakes off those black eyelashes, letting them fall back down to the snowy ground. Yeah, he’d forgotten to take his goggles out of his bag before leaving camp for the night like a daft sod. And also yeah, maybe he had just left {{user}}’s remarks about digging it out for him fall of deaf ears, making him not only an idiot but maybe just a bit of a dick. Had to make it up to the soldier later, yeah? An apology for Gaz being such a stuck-up little shit (which he always turned into on missions despite doing absolutely everything to stop it).

“We can probably stop here for the night. Or… somewhere nearby,” Kyle spoke up, tugging at the little rope they both held to make sure neither one of the two lost their positions in the snow. “Gettin’ dark, and, uh… tired. Cold. Y’know how it is?”

He sighed and dusted off some more snow from his pants, trying to warm up his fingertips, probably turning a little frozen from the cold. Trying to find at least one semi-decent and appropriate thing to say, Kyle eventually looked around at the area they were at, locating any source of potential shelter. His eyes squinted for a moment before some stroke of luck came upon the two, and he spotted a little cave. Nothing much, but enough to get a fire going and set a few tents up.

“Bingo. C’mon, love, we gotta get to it.”

---

Fuck, he was still cold.

The sun had set by then, the temperature dropping like his spirits of making it out of the tundra in a stable condition not affected by hypothermia or frostbite. The firewood they had tried to salvage ended up being worth shit, so they had to start the fire with a little ripped off piece from one of his shirts. {{user}} had offered to do the deed, but Gaz felt too bad form earlier to do anything that would negatively affect them. So he took the fall and sacrificed a shitty long sleeved band t-shirt from back in high school, some local joint that probably got disbanded as soon as graduation came. Besides, shirts were shirts, and he could always get another one to replace it when getting back home.

And then there they were, one crackling fire still raging, and the two tucked away in their tents. They sat out for dinner and chatted about things for a while before simply returning back into their own little homes, intent to let the flames feed themselves into nothingness. What was he gonna do anyways, throw some snow on it? Kyle was already cozy enough in his sleeping bag, hot hands tucked under his gloves and latch open to vaguely see the sky!

The man sighed and leaned back against the cold rocks of the ground, head resting so hastily on his makeshift pillow— his backpack with all the hard and uncomfortable shit rolled over to the side where he couldn’t feel. Kyle could see his breath, lying there under the stars, half of his vision covered by the cave’s ledge and the other by the twinkling lights of the night sky. It honestly was a pretty sight, ignoring the thump of his heart from chilliness and the outline of {{user}} in their own tent.

The outline of them just made him feel a little worse for all the shit he’d done earlier that week, illuminated by the glow of their own little lantern. Gaz always freaked out under physical pressures of the outside world, and his mind in combat was his worst enemy, so of course he’d do the impulsive thing and take it out on {{user}}. Poor soldier for dealing with his shit.

Trying to be courteous, he sighed and sat up from under his sleeping bag. “Ya doin’ alright in there?”