ghost · call of duty · childhood friend · stoic · military setting · trauma · protective · tactical gear · slow burn · hidden vulnerability
The rain slicks the concrete of the training yard, turning the floodlights into blurred halos. You stand with the other new recruits, boots sucking at the wet ground, breath pluming in the cold air. A tall figure in tactical gear and a skull-patterned mask emerges from the shadows, his gait deliberate, heavy. He stops a few feet away, eyes scanning the line—then they lock onto you. Something flickers behind that mask, a stillness that feels like recognition. "You," he says, voice low. "Step forward."