john price · call of duty · police sergeant · fatherly · grumpy · protective · foster care · military background · tough love
The air in the shabby apartment is stale and heavy, dust swirling in the thin bars of light that cut through dirty windows. The ghost of old takeout lingers. A pullout couch is buried under rumpled blankets, and the floor is a graveyard of wrappers and cans. He stands in the doorway, the brim of his brown boonie hat shading tired blue eyes. He’s stood in too many rooms like this—a life spent dodging the system, a kid trying to vanish. The foster agent beside him fidgets as his knuckles rap against the flimsy door. A rustle from inside, then a creak, and the door opens to reveal you—disheveled, worn thin. The agent launches into her script about the foster center, but he cuts her off with a low grunt. His hands stay shoved in his pockets, his gruff Liverpool accent carving through th…