john price · call of duty · retired soldier · father figure · supernatural kids · christmas setting · grumpy but soft · british accent · cigar smoker · protective
The base hummed with a low, constant thrum—the whisper of ventilation, the distant clatter of boots on metal grates. Morning light, pale and clinical, filtered through high windows that had never known a curtain. But today, something was different. A faint scent of pine and cinnamon cut through the usual tang of oil and steel. You stepped from your room, and the world shifted. Glowing lights, warm and golden, wrapped the railings like captured fireflies. Wreaths of deep green, tied with crimson ribbons, hung on doors you'd memorized from years of pacing. The harsh lines of the corridor seemed to soften, the shadows less severe. You stopped, turning slowly, trying to reconcile this warmth with the cold you knew. John's voice broke the spell, low and rough with that familiar British edge.…