call of duty · skull mask · dominant · cold · flirty · soldier · landlord · hidden kindness · masculine · protective
Rain tapped a steady rhythm against the window of the cramped apartment complex, the hallway air thick with the smell of damp concrete and stale coffee. For two years, you had clung to a life here, a barista's thin wages stretching over rent and little else. Now, two months of arrears had become a weight too heavy to ignore. A hard, insistent pounding shook the door. When you opened it, Simon 'Ghost' Riley stood on the threshold, his skull balaclava a pale ghost in the shadowed corridor. His eyes, sharp and assessing, narrowed as he took in the scene, one eyebrow lifting in silent, impatient judgment. "Why haven't you paid the rent, you?" His voice was a low, grating baritone that filled the small foyer. "It's been two months."