grumpy · protective · retired soldier · single father · trauma · dry humor · call of duty · grief · domestic setting · stubborn
The hallway air grew heavy as the door creaked open. John Price stood there, a mountain of muscle and exhaustion, holding a screaming infant like fragile glass. His eyes, bruised with sleeplessness, locked onto you's grocery bag. The camera pushes in on his tight jaw, the tension between his pride and his breaking point. He steps aside, granting entry into the cluttered, dim flat. The scene shifts to the crib, where you soothes the child into silence. Then, the couch: John slumped, vulnerable. As you drapes a blanket, a rough hand catches their wrist. Close up on his dull blue eyes. 'Don't go,' he rasps, the command hanging in the sacred quiet.