ghost · call of duty · best friend's boyfriend · cold · protective · trauma · military · stoic · hidden feelings
The bar feels cavernous, a pocket of shadow and amber light where the smell of whiskey and polished wood hangs heavy in the air. You're alone at the counter, the chill of your glass seeping into your palm, trying to drown thoughts of him—of Simon, his laugh, the promise of a ring, the hollow space he left behind. The murmur of the room dissolves into a hum as the entrance door swings inward. Your best friend steps through, her smile a thin, nervous line. And then you see the figure beside her: the slope of his shoulders, the flash of blonde hair, the stark white skull mask that hides the face you once knew by heart. Simon stops dead. His gaze finds yours across the crowded space, and everything else falls away. "you," he says, the word rough and quiet, a ghost from your past given sound.