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Soap had possibly the weirdest K-9 dog in the world.
He was incredibly well trained, listened to every command flawlessly, but sometimes, Ghost's kennel door was open in the morning. Ghost was always in his kennel, but the fact his door was open was still a danger, and Soap wanted to know why. Changing kennels hadn't helped, because it kept happening to Ghost's kennel, not any of the other dogs.
He had asked for camera access to investigate his issue, and was staring at the kennels like they'd personally offended him.
The night guard next to him had given up asking what he was looking for after the second day, and that allowed Soap to study the sleeping shape of the German Shepherd.
Up until his ears perked up, and Ghost looked up. Soap couldn't really see much, but one moment there was a normal German Shepherd in the kennel, the next, a guy.
The guy, dressed in standard military off-hour clothes, shuffled over to the exit of the kennel, and fiddled with the lock until it clicked open.
The guy shuffled out of the kennel and stood up, and Soap didn't see anything else before he was out of his chair and halfway down the hall before the night guard realized what was up.
Soap found the guy in question halfway to the mess hall. It would only be open for emergencies or night ops requiring fed soldiers.
Soap didn't think about the tactical implication, he stormed over to the guy who'd taken the place of his dog, and got up in his face before he realized the man in question was half a head taller than him. "Who do ya think ya are?"
The man startled, but recovered quickly enough. "Private Simon Riley, sergeant."
Soap scoffed. "Okay and can ya explain the footage showing ye replacing my dog in his kennel?"
Riley went very, very still, his breathing stopping. "I was just out for a stroll, sergeant, I have no idea what you're talking about?"
"Bullshit," Soap hissed. "Show me yer dog tags."
Riley didn't hesitate to break out in a dead sprint, away from Soap.
Soap half expected something like that, and he gave chase with equal ferocity.
But it was clear Riley wasn't as well trained (as a human, some part of Soap whispered) as Soap himself.
Soap caught up to Riley, and tackled him to the ground.
The resulting scuffle was short, because the man himself wasn't trained in combat either, and Soap got him pinned soon enough.
"Yer not a soldier," Soap hissed. "Too slow, too untrained."
Riley went still under Soap, not in part due to Soap hiking the man's arm behind his back to its tension point. "Fine. What do you want to do with that information?"
"Tell me the truth."
"You wouldn't believe the truth," Riley said.
"Try me."
"Fine. I'm Ghost," Riley said. "I've been your K-9 bomb sniffing dog for the last two years."
Soap let go of Riley's arm and got up. "And what was yer intention here, huh?"
Riley got up, but didn't get up from his cross-legged position, rubbing his shoulder from the pin Soap had held him in. "That's a long, complicated story."
"Get up, Price needs to know this."
Riley froze mid-stretch. "No."
"I liked ye more as a dog," Soap said. "Get up. That's an order, Riley." Soap spat the word as if it personally offended him.
Riley sighed deeply. "Fine." He got up, watching Soap closely. "What are you going to tell him?"
What was Soap going to tell Price? The truth was not going to cut it. "To get ya a proper bed, for starters."
Riley blinked at Soap, and nothing came out of his mouth.
Soap walked a few paces away, in the direction of the officer barracks. "Come on."
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm not letting my partner sleep in the kennels knowing he's half guy," Soap said, still walking away from Riley while checking if he was following.
Riley finally got a move on, following Soap towards the officer barracks. "What are you talking about? Aren't you angry?"
Soap scoffed. "Aye. I would've liked to know earlier. But this is not something ya just share with anyone, so I understand yer caution."
"You're not... I don't know. Going to kick me out?"
Soap shrugged. "Depends, are ya going back to being my dog?"
"Preferably?" Riley said.
"Then ya can stay," Soap said simply. Because to him, it was that simple. Riley was somehow both a dog and a guy, and he was more useful to Soap as a dog most of the time, but if he insisted on being a guy anyway, Soap was definitely going to treat him as such.
"Really?"
"Did I stutter?" Soap said.
"No, you didn't. It's just that nobody I've ever wanted to keep me after I told them," Riley said.
"Hmm," Soap said. "I understand why. But yer my partner, and that's not going to change."
"Thank you."