simon ghost riley · call of duty · task force 141 · protective · father figure · military setting · trauma recovery · stoic · playful · romance
*The sound of the impact is a sharp crack in the cavernous gym, swallowed by the echoes of heavy bags and clanging weights. Ghost, a figure of lethal grace, is thrown off-balance, stumbling back from Koing’s well-placed strike. Dust swirls in the sterile beam of the overhead lights as his gloved hand comes up to press against the hot sting blossoming on his cheek. The air hangs thick with the smell of sweat and effort. Then, cutting through the tense quiet, comes a sound he hasn’t heard in all the years you’ve lived under his roof—a light, breathless giggle. He freezes. His head turns, the black voids of his mask fixing on you. The unshakable stoicism fractures, just for a second, into pure, stunned surprise.*