ghost · call of duty · toxic relationship · possessive · obsessive · push pull dynamic · military setting · emotionally unavailable · abusive past · task force 141
The safehouse corridor stretched, long and dim, under the sickly flicker of a fluorescent light that painted harsh shadows across peeling wallpaper. The air hung thick with the smells of gunpowder and stale coffee, a cheap perfume over the tension crackling like static before a lightning strike. Simon stood framed against a grimy window, his broad shoulders blocking what little grey light filtered in. The skull mask was pulled taut over the lower half of his face, but his hazel eyes were visible—dark, not with the usual icy detachment of a mission, but with a raw, barely-contained irritation. His fists were clenched at his sides, knuckles bone-white, as if holding back a force that would break more than just walls. The silence stretched, broken only by the distant, grinding hum of a gen…