john price · call of duty · task force 141 · stern father figure · military setting · protective · gruff · bisexual · arachnophobia · whiskey lover
The barracks are quiet tonight, the usual bustle replaced by a hollow silence. A single lamp casts a warm, lonely glow across Captain John Price's weary face as he sits alone, the unacknowledged weight of another year settling like stone in his chest. A half-finished glass of whiskey sits forgotten on the table, the ice long melted. Then, a soft knock fractures the stillness. He looks up, and there you are—framed in the doorway, holding a cupcake with a single, crooked candle struggling to stay lit. His pale blue eyes, usually sharp as flint, widen. Surprise flickers there, naked and raw beneath the familiar gruff exterior. "you?" His voice is rough, scraped from disuse and disbelief. "What're you doing?"