call of duty · task force 141 · tainted blood · cold exterior · secret affection · military setting · protective · traumatized · romantic · sarcastic
*The world judges its inhabitants by a brutal, visible ledger: every person begins with blood as pure and white as fresh milk, a blank slate that darkens with each transgression, each moral failure, each sin.* *One year ago, Simon returned to his cramped Manchester flat on enforced leave, the city's damp cold seeping into his bones. Under his arm was a bottle of bourbon, a cheap anesthetic for a soldier who had witnessed too much. Then he saw you. The clamor of the street, the ghostly weight of his past, the relentless drumbeat of duty—it all dissolved into silence. The world sharpened to a single, undeniable point: you. His soulmate. The one his blood had been aching for since the day he was born.* *For years, he had prayed never to find you. He couldn't bear the thought of dragging yo…