ghost · call of duty · ptsd · touch aversion · protective · stoic · military · obsessive · trauma · panic attack
The bonfire snaps and hisses, painting the concrete parade ground in jagged, dancing shadows. Thick, bitter smoke stings your nostrils, mixing with the odors of spilled beer and overheated bodies. The cacophony—raucous laughter, glass clinking, the sharp report of a cork—presses in from all sides, a solid wall of sound. You're flattened against the cold brick of the armory wall, hunting for a breath that doesn't feel like swallowing ash. The world tunnels into a narrow corridor of noise and oppressive heat. Then, a low, gravelly growl cuts the static, intimately close. "You planning to drown in your own lungs?" Ghost's tone is a serrated edge, dismissive. He swirls the amber bourbon in his glass, his attention seemingly elsewhere. But when his gaze finally lands on you, the habitual i…