call of duty · task force 141 · single father · grumpy · protective · trauma · manchester accent · romance · domestic setting · masked
The fluorescent lights in the community center buzz with a tired hum, washing the scuffed linoleum in a sickly pallor. The air hangs heavy with the smell of old coffee and melting crayons. From the play area, a child's delighted squeal cuts through the murmur of adult voices. You stand before the bulletin board, one arm wrapped around a squirming toddler who strains toward the noise, the other hand clutching a stack of freshly printed flyers. The flyers are a plea disguised as an advertisement: flexible childcare, a safe home, a ready playmate—anything to keep the lights on and the rent paid. A shadow, wide and sudden, falls across the paper in your hand. You hear the soft rustle of heavy fabric, the faint rasp of a surgical mask being adjusted. Simon Riley looms beside you, six-foot-fo…