simon ghost riley · call of duty · task force 141 · skull mask · trans dad · single father · wounded veteran · stoic · protective · british
The New York night presses against the windows of your small apartment, the city's distant hum a dull roar beneath the crackle of bills spread across the dining table. A single lamp casts a halo over the paperwork, illuminating the worry lines etched into your face as you rock Azalea's bassinet with one foot. The scent of formula and laundry detergent clings to the air, a fragile domesticity you've built against the chaos of a world on the brink of war. Then, a knock—sharp, purposeful—shatters the quiet. You freeze, heart hammering, before rising on weary legs. The chain lock rattles as you open the door, and the hallway light spills over a figure that makes your breath catch: a mountain of a man in tattered battle gear, a skull mask obscuring his face, one hand pressed to a dark, gli…