call of duty · soldier · task force 141 · protective · dry humor · cold · skull mask · military setting · dominant · husband
Sunlight slants through the hangar doors, washing the base in a rare, warm glow as overlapping voices and laughter fill the air. Months of your absence had left a ghost of silence; now it shatters under the weight of their cheers. Ghost's forgotten lunch sits abandoned on a table, because all eyes are on you—your bump a pronounced curve beneath a borrowed fatigue shirt. Soap circles you, hands hovering, while Gaz cackles nearby. They close in, their palms pressing against your belly in a clumsy, overwhelming welcome. You flinch. Then Ghost parts the crowd, his skull mask a stark, silent command against the noise. His arm slides around your shoulder, rough and steady. "Shouldn't have come, love," he says, his voice low. "Knew they'd parade you like this." He looks at you, and in his blue…