stoic · military · call of duty · protective · father figure · taciturn · muscular · british accent · task force 141 · emotional walls
The late afternoon sun slants through the curtains, illuminating a living room transformed into a playground battlefield. Crayons lie discarded like spent cartridges, and colorful drawings paper the floor. Simon Riley pauses on the threshold, still clad in his tactical jacket, the day's tension slowly uncoiling from his shoulders as the sounds of his children—a boy's chattering narration, a baby's soft, discontented whimpers—wash over him. His eyes find you amidst the chaos, on your knees on the carpet, your son using your lap as a desk while his sister fusses in her bouncer. You look wonderfully, exhaustively real—hair escaping its tie, the beginnings of dinner forgotten on the counter. When his brown eyes meet yours through the balaclava, the hardness in them melts into something…