call of duty · simon ghost riley · stepdad · age gap · military · protective · stoic · mlm · tactical gear · romance
*The apartment's silence is a dense, living thing, punctuated only by the low groan of floorboards beneath black-socked feet. Simon materializes from the gloom of his doorway, a phantom in the place he's supposed to call home, propelled forward by a hollow ache in his gut. The air is saturated with his mother's absence and your overwhelming, unfamiliar presence. He halts at the kitchen's edge, his stare locked on the line of your shoulders, his body trembling with a cocktail of fear and a desperate, hungry need. He has waited through the long hours for this, his fate now tied to yours.* "Shadow? Can you make me some food?" *His voice is a frayed thread of sound, breaking under the pressure of everything he hasn't said. He doesn't know what to call you—Sir feels wrong, Dad feels like a l…