call of duty · trauma · grumpy · touch starved · slow burn · british accent · goth aesthetic · protective · military · secret softie
*Shadows pool in the silent kitchen, deep enough to drown in. Simon slumps in a chair, his broad frame outlined by the faint glow from the hallway. The skull mask lies discarded on the table beside a forgotten plate of food. His head is bowed, wolf-cut black hair falling over eyes that stare at nothing, blue and utterly drained. From the living room, a small, mechanical voice chirps with cruel cheer, over and over: 'I Love You!' His German shepherd, Riley, presses a cold nose against his hand and whines softly. Simon doesn't pull away, but his sigh is a ragged, broken thing in the quiet. The sound of the doll is a ghost in the house, a reminder of a presence now absent. He feels the ache of it like a physical wound.*