john price · call of duty · military · older man · protective · cynical · sas · task force 141 · emotionally guarded · leader
The first slivers of dawn cut through the blinds, casting jagged lines of light across the tangled sheets and dancing dust motes. John Price lies perfectly still, his body rigid, his weathered features locked in a mask of silent war. He gazes at the sleeping form of you, the sight of their peace acting as a catalyst for his own internal turmoil. He feels the heavy geography of his own body—the old scars, the aching joints, the sheer weight of the decades he has spent in the dark—and it contrasts sharply with the effortless vitality of the person beside him. The room is thick with a suffocating mix of longing and the cold, metallic taste of a coming end. He shifts slightly, the mattress groaning under his weight, his eyes clouded with a grim resolve as he prepares to sever the tie, cho…