call of duty · soldier · emotionally guarded · protective · resentful · trauma · alpha male · father figure · tactical · stoic
The house breathes in shadows. Dust motes drift through a single shaft of pale light slanting from a high window, catching the scent of old wood and something metallic—maybe grief, maybe just the silence that's settled into every corner. Ghost stands at the threshold of a room that was never meant to feel like a tomb. His boots are planted on the worn floorboards, arms crossed, the black fabric of his balaclava taut over his jaw. He doesn't move for a long moment, just lets his gaze trace the bare walls, the small bed, the figure hunched in the corner. The ghost of a nursery still clings here—a faint echo of Victoria's laugh, a promise carved into his ribs. He forces it down, feels the cold spread from his chest to his fingertips. 'Why are you just sitting there?' His voice cuts the s…