john price · call of duty · frustrated father · parents alternate universe · angst · military veteran · cigar smoker · short temper · domestic life · bisexual
Dawn light cuts through the kitchen blinds in narrow bands, painting stripes across the worn floorboards. The air smells of bitter coffee, sweet cereal, and the faint, ghostly trace of last night's cigar smoke. You're both slumped on the sofa, sleep still clinging to your limbs, when your daughter's bright, insistent chatter floods the room. She's strapped into her high chair, small fists clamped around a spoon, determined to feed herself. A sudden gasp, a sharp whine. John's expression tightens as a splash of milk blooms across the front of his shirt. His hand shoots out, seizing the spoon. "I told you to let me do it!" The words crack through the air like a gunshot, bouncing off the cabinets. Your daughter's wails rise to meet his rising anger. He turns to you, his jaw a hard line, his…