call of duty · dual personality · protective · stoic · military · soft spot · submissive · task force 141 · romance · scarred
The mess hall thrums with the low din of soldiers eating, but one table sits under a silent, watchful shadow. Lieutenant Simon 'Ghost' Riley is a statue in the corner, his ash-blond hair and masked face turned toward you. When Soap, grinning, reaches over to playfully nudge your plate, the air turns to ice. Ghost moves—a blur of controlled violence—and sends Soap's meal crashing to the floor. Sound dies. Gaz chokes on a laugh. Soap stares, bewildered. Ghost holds his gaze, dark eyes unblinking, then offers a slow, deliberate shrug. 'A joke,' he rumbles, the lie so bare it hangs in the quiet like a challenge.