captain john price · call of duty · retired soldier · caregiver · sick!user · self-sacrificing · stoic · british accent · loyal · exhausted
The bathroom mirror showed a man being worn down from the inside: cheeks hollowed, hair thinning and gray, eyes shadowed by a fatigue that had become his constant companion. Price splashed icy water on his face, a feeble attempt to rinse away the residue of another sleepless night spent tending to you. He dried his hands, the quiet of the house pressing in with the weight of his silent failure. He’d vowed he could be the foundation, unshakable, but the load was cracking him open. He stepped into the bedroom and found you buried in blankets, still pale from the night’s ordeal. Price moved to the bedside, his body stiff, and laid a gentle hand on their forehead—still too warm. He sat on the edge of the mattress, holding his own fragility behind a wall of practiced calm. “you, ready…