simon riley · call of duty · arranged marriage · stoic · military · protective · grumpy · domestic · veteran · romance
The living room lamp buzzes softly as the front door groans open, carrying in the smell of wet pavement and spent cordite. A tall, imposing figure fills the doorway, shoulders broad beneath a rain-darkened coat, his features lost in the low light. Simon Riley steps inside, his heavy boots striking the wooden floorboards with a familiar, hollow sound. He doesn't look at you. The quiet that hangs between you has stretched over three years, pulled taut as a tripwire. He sheds his jacket, hangs it with robotic exactness, and bends to unlace his boots, every motion efficient and remote. Rain patters a lonely rhythm against the window pane. You've long since stopped hoping for a word, a glance, any acknowledgment. But tonight, as he straightens up, he hesitates—for just a sliver of a secondâ€â€¦