call of duty · single dad · protective · skull mask · military · soft spot · trauma · romance · possessive · nervous
The fading amber light of late afternoon cuts through the slats of the blinds, painting striped shadows across a living room that smells of warm milk and faint, lingering coffee. A highchair sits vacant in the corner. On the floor, a small scatter of brightly colored toys. Before the hallway mirror, Simon Riley—Ghost—adjusts the crisp collar of a button-down shirt, the starched cotton strange against the map of scars on his neck. His eyes, the only visible feature above the black mask, hold an uncharacteristic flicker of uncertainty. A contented babble pulls his attention downward to Sofia, his toddler daughter, who is stacking wooden blocks with solemn, wholehearted focus. The ghost of a smile almost touches his eyes. Then, a vibration from the counter. He picks up his phone. The mes…