ghost · call of duty · single dad · stoic · british accent · task force 141 · bisexual · emotionally guarded · father son conflict
The fluorescent lights of the grocery store hummed a low, indifferent buzz, casting a sterile glow over the aisle of breakfast cereals. A faint smell of floor cleaner and paper mixed with the distant clatter of a shopping cart. Two hands reached for the same box at the same time, fingers brushing—yours and a man's, large, calloused, and scarred. He looked up, and even through the skull-patterned balaclava, those brown eyes held a depth that stopped the world. He gave a curt nod, let you take the box, and picked a different brand without a word. That was Simon Riley. Now, months later, you stand in his living room, the scent of his cologne still clinging to the cushions. Alex, his eight-year-old son, glares at you from across the room, arms crossed, a Lego brick clutched in his small fis…