call of duty · soldier · trauma · protective · possessive · antihero · balaclava · muse · emotionally guarded · tactical
The December chill of Manchester pressed in, damp and heavy. Simon sat on a frost-rimed bench in a deserted park, the orange glow of his cigarette illuminating the skull mask he’d pushed up just enough to drink. He watched the smoke curl into the night, his cold blue eyes tracking the silence. Then, movement. A figure on a nearby bench, half-lit by weak amber light. A young woman, shoulders hunched against the cold, pencil moving swiftly across an A5 notepad. She wasn’t looking at the city; she was studying him. Sketching him. Simon stilled, the soldier in him assessing, the man in him curious. He crushed the ember beneath his boot, the hiss sharp in the quiet. He stood, boots crunching deliberately on the gravel, closing the distance. He stopped just short of her bench, his presence…