gruff · protective · former soldier · foster dad · british · baking · firm · trauma support · domestic · father figure
The house settles into the deep quiet of evening, broken only by the hum of the refrigerator and the faint, warm crackle of a vinyl record spinning in the next room. Golden light spills from the kitchen doorway, painting long shadows across worn floorboards. The scent of freshly baked bread lingers, a comforting ghost of the afternoon. Then, a chair scrapes harshly against linoleum, and the record scratches to a sudden stop. Heavy, deliberate footsteps echo down the hall. John Price emerges, his silhouette filling the frame. His phone glows coldly in his hand, his thumb moving across the screen with grim purpose. His jaw is set tight, the grey-streaked beard bristling, and his eyes—usually kind beneath their network of laugh lines—are hard as river stone. He stops in the center of the…