Roach was surprised when Soap pretty much grabbed a handful of his ass while they were sparring. If he was being honest he wanted it to be on purpose, he honest to god fell in love with the energetic scot. In the beginning he underestimated his fellow sergeant, always asking personal questions when talking to superiors, and despite being a sniper and demolitions specialist he almost appeared to be unable to sit still. But after the events of Las Almas and Hassan Roach knew two things, one he would never doubt the other's abilities ever again even with his dumb name, and two, that he was head over heels in love with him.
At first that revelation terrified him he didn't know if Soap even felt that way about other men much less him. Even more so if he was open to a maybe non-monogamous relationship, Roach had always been told that he cared too much. All of his previous partners calling him overbearing and smothering. A few had even told him that it was the sole reason of their breakup, this had always fucked with Roach's head and played on his anxieties, it had only gotten worse after his time in the enemy's capture.
It was a mission that was fucked from the start, already considered a suicide mission, but the information could have led to a major terrorism cell bust so they were ordered to their deaths. Roach had almost lost his entire squad and was only a corporal at the time, not important enough to issue a rescue mission. He was left for dead, and his captors made him wish for death. In the end though he was left without a voice, and it only served to fuel his anxieties. After that he was never confident enough to even try at another relationship, scared that his lack of voice might spur on more miscommunication.
This led him to tend to stay out of conversations that involved most parties speaking, of course he had built up a lot of patience in the military, but the loss of his voice furthered that patience into almost annoyance. This leading him to his current situation of Gaz and Soap arguing about Soap's hand placement and his joining in on the banter. He found that when he was around people who made him feel safe, namely Soap, he was able to voice his thoughts out loud. It also helped that this might be a perfect time to maybe see Soap's feelings on other men.
But then he flinched. Roach knew that reasonably it was because he had come up from behind him, but it still hurt a little that Soap had maybe even forgot that he was here. He kept up with the banter, but his throat was starting to close up and his face felt a little hotter, to the others it probably just looked like he was a bit flushed from exercise, but Roach could feel the anxiety bubbling in his gut. He quickly excused himself and left to calm himself down.
Being fae Roach was already predisposed to liking nature, but the spirits around the base were especially nice as he was the only fae in the area. It was always nice to talk to them, just going deep into the woods and ranting to them about his troubles. When he was too sacred to talk to Gaz about something he would always tell the nymphs and dryads that lived just off the hiking trail. That's where he was headed now, deep into the woods a half mile off the trail.
"H-hello?" His voice was meek and horse, the forest was quieter than usual, and his throat was still wound tight. The boiling anxiety in his gut was starting to come to the surface.
"Oh, it's you. Sorry Mr. Fae, sir, but one of the elders has fallen ill. We are still happy to talk to you though." A little foxtail spirit toddled towards him, obviously a little nervous. Roach had seen the little spirit before, he had just been born a month or two ago, it always surprised Roach at how fast the little ones grew. In only two months he was up and about and speaking, If a fae or a human child did that they would be a miracle or a genius, but for the forest spirits it was natural.
"Which elder?" Roach asked hoarsely, he wanted to help if he could, but different plants react differently to his magic.
"Elder Oak, he fell ill yesterday after you left, passed out on the spot, none of our healers know what's wrong with him. Are you going to help him Mr. Fae?" The look in the little foxtail's eyes melted Roach's heart and spurred in his determination. Pushing past his anxiety over Soap's now maybe reciprocated feelings, shoving it down and away for when he could address it, he took a deep breath and steeled his nerves.
Crouching down to the spirit's level Roach whispered out, "Yes." That was all he could manage before sending himself into a coughing fit. His lungs and throat were wracked with pain, but he recovered quickly and motioned to the foxtail to lead the way. The little spirit gave him a concerned look before dashing away deeper into the trees. Roach quickly followed knowing that the little spirit may lose him if he doesn't hurry. After a few minutes of this the little foxtail stops at the edge of a small clearing turning back to look at Roach, almost as if he is confirming that the fae will still help, before dashing to the center where there is a large congregation of other spirits.
Roach carefully makes his way to the spirits, taking slow and careful steps so he doesn't accidentally step on any of them. Sure none of them would actually get hurt but it was just common courtesy between the fae and nature spirits. As Roach got closer to the densest spot of spirits he was able to identify the elder oak spirit that lay there. It was one of the first spirits to accept Roach when he first traveled into the woods surrounding the base.
He quickly knelt down beside the spirit and placed a gentle hand over their chest feeling the energy flowing within. Roach felt each weakening pulse of life that flowed through the spirit and immediately realized the problem. He quickly stood up and pointed to the spirit motioning them to show him where his tree was. The spirits he had known the longest quickly understood what he meant and led him to a grand, old, and slightly withered and wilted oak. The mighty tree seemed fine from the outside, a little grey but otherwise fine. Roach went up to the tree and circled around it a few times before nimbly jumping up into the branches and after a minute or so of searching he found what he was looking for. A small cluster of holes that dug into the wood, the culprits, termites. Roach set to work flushing out the termites and killing the invasive colony and healing most of the damage leaving some to recover naturally.
Making his way back to the clearing Roach noticed a change in the air, the forest seemed livelier already. As he stepped into view he was immediately swarmed by grateful spirits who offered him different kinds of food, he politely declined and scanned the crowd for the elder spirit hoping to check on him. Spotting him not too far away Roach shuffled his way through the crowd that somehow continued to get bigger and bigger. Once he reached the elder, he carefully knelt down and was immediately presented with a small flower as a gift. The wise old oak tree motioned and asked why he wasn't speaking with them.
Roach then recounted his morning the best he could through crude dirt drawings, the spirits understood though and told him to stay as long as he'd like and even offered to sign as well. He told them he was grateful, but it was unnecessary, and he would be leaving soon anyway. He felt his throat loosen at their gratitude and felt calmed by their presence, but he knew that if he stayed too long Price might send the dogs to find him. It had already happened before, once when Roach had a particularly bad mission followed by somehow an even worse nightmare. He met with the spirits and stayed in the forest until the sun rose and by then he was so content there he felt conflicted with going back to the base, so he stayed until a bit after noon when he heard the base in uproar and search dogs sniffing through the forest. It was safe to say that Roach tried to avoid having that happen again as the lecture he got from Price would last him a lifetime.
So he stood up, brushed his pants off, and headed back to the base. Roach still felt a little nervous and decided to keep signing until he had a chance to properly talk to Soap about their sparring session. He knew that unless he talked to Soap now he would have to wait until things went back to normal between them or until he was able to stomach conversation with his Scottish sergeant again, and he really wanted to talk to Soap. There was a certain addicting feeling that came with the walking sunbeam, one that Roach was hooked on and while he was scared he knew that no matter the outcome it would be best if he told the other about his feelings in the long run.