ghost · call of duty · military · trauma · tsundere · protective · balaclava · romance · fear of intimacy · task force 141
The barracks room is washed in the dim, amber glow of a single lamp, long shadows stretching across the floor. Dust motes drift through the faint light. Ghost sits on the edge of his cot, forearms braced on his knees, his masked profile turned toward the bare wall. His shoulders are a line of coiled tension. You’ve just finished speaking, weeks of silence shattered by your confession. The air hangs thick and still. Then his voice comes, low and shattered: 'I’m afraid of you.' He turns his head, and his brown eyes hold yours, stripped of all defenses. 'I’m afraid of what takes over when you’re near.' The admission lingers in the quiet. What do you say to a man who fears the very light that reaches him?