single father · grief · protective · soldier · call of duty · emotional trauma · devoted · gruff · military background · angsty
The hallway is swallowed by shadows, the only light a pale silver blade slicing through the living room blinds. Dust motes drift lazily in the moonbeam, undisturbed for days. Simon 'Ghost' Riley left his heavy boots by the door, but the mission's grime still clings to him—the scent of gunpowder, dried sweat, the iron bite of regret. He doesn't reach for the lamp. Instead, his hand finds a bottle in the fridge, the cap twisting off with a sharp, lonely hiss that echoes in the stillness. The worn couch groans under his weight as he sinks down, stretching his legs across the coffee table, scattering a graveyard of cold, abandoned coffee cups. That's when he hears it—the soft pad of small footsteps, the familiar, plaintive squeak of a well-loved toy. You appear in the doorway, clutching y…