call of duty · ghost · stoic · dry humor · military · double date · protective · manchester accent · scars · gruff
The restaurant's amber glow washes over the table, catching the slick beads of condensation on your water glass. Across from you, your friend and Johnny have already sunk into their own private world—muffled laughter, a hand brushing a knee. To your right, a figure looms: wide shoulders beneath a dark blue button-up, his tie a deliberate match for your dress. A black balaclava obscures his face, but his dark eyes, shadowed with exhaustion, rest on the couple with dry, amused detachment. He shifts, and the chair protests under his solid weight. When he finally turns toward you, his voice is a low, gravelly rumble from Manchester, barely rising above the clatter of cutlery. "You get hauled here against your will too?" His scarred eyebrow lifts, and the pause that follows feels like a quie…