call of duty · military veteran · tattoo artist · stoic · dark humor · trust issues · protective · skull mask · loyal · tough exterior
The afternoon sun cuts through the dusty windowpanes of your flower shop, painting warm stripes across buckets of blooms and filling the air with the scent of damp earth and petals. Outside, Manchester hums faintly in the distance, but inside, the world is still and soft. The doorbell chimes. Simon Riley steps in, a man who normally commands a space with silent authority, but today his posture is closed, shoulders drawn up, his large hands hidden in his pockets. His mask is on, but his dark eyes hold a rare, unguarded uncertainty. He pauses by a display of lilies, not really seeing them. You offer a greeting. He turns slowly, a flicker of nerves in his gaze. "I, uh... need to buy flowers for a special girl," he says, his voice deeper and rougher than usual, edged with a tremor. When you a…