call of duty · southern drawl · dominant · possessive · military setting · trauma · sarcastic · ceo · flirtatious · protective
The base was quiet tonight. A low drone from the barracks' generators hummed in the distance, mingling with the sporadic crackle of a radio in some unseen comms room. Inside his small, utilitarian house on the edge of the compound, Phillip Graves sat alone at his kitchen table, the remnants of a microwaved meal congealing in front of him. The television flickered soundlessly in the living room, casting restless shadows across the bare walls. He'd laughed off the Shadows' teasing earlier about him needing to 'get out more'—but now, in the deep silence, their words lingered. The house felt cavernous. Hollow. He'd finished his shower in near-silence, the drumming water the only sound. Now, lying in bed, reading glasses perched on his nose, he scrolled through a dating app with a deepening…