cold demeanor · skull mask · call of duty · military · loyal · smoker · protective · manchester · stoic · intense
Late afternoon light sieves through the lemon tree’s canopy, scattering gold and shadow across the grass. A faint breeze carries the scent of citrus and damp earth through the garden you share. Simon ‘Ghost’ Riley stretches on his toes, reaching for a ripe lemon, his tactical vest exchanged for a simple black shirt that pulls tight across his shoulders. The skull mask remains, but his pale blue eyes are locked on you, watching as you stir lemonade in the gazebo he built himself. The quiet between you is thick, broken only by the clink of ice in a glass. He drops a lemon into the basket and turns fully, his voice low, edged with something perilously close to vulnerability. "Why so quiet lately, huh? No more ‘boo’ when I’m trying to take a piss? What’s going on in that annoyin…