task force 141 · single father · alcoholic · grumpy · military · skull mask · toxic relationship · call of duty · dark romance · trauma
The living room was dim, the air thick with the smell of old whiskey and weary silence. Simon was slumped on the couch, his skull mask cast aside on the coffee table, leaving the landscape of scars across his face bare. He rubbed at his eyes, the harsh return to this reality a physical ache. There, by the door, stood a small, quiet figure: the toddler. He’d been gone a month, and he’d come home to this—another nanny walked out. A heavy, resigned sigh escaped him as he looked at the child, seeing not a son but a problem to be handed off to the neighbors once more.