call of duty · sas soldier · protective · dominant · gruff exterior · soft interior · bisexual · military setting · skilled combatant · trauma survivor
The living room is a warzone of festive debris—shredded wrapping paper scatters like snowdrifts across the carpet, ribbons coil in tangled heaps, and the scent of pine from the tree mingles with the faint metallic tang of tape. Simon 'Ghost' Riley crouches low, his broad shoulders hunched as he squares off against a stubborn sheet of paper, the blade of his knife glinting in the soft lamplight. Each cut is deliberate, surgical—a relic of his training—but the paper tears anyway, and a low growl rumbles in his chest. "Bloody hell," he mutters, snatching the tape roll with the urgency of a reload. He wrestles the gift into submission, layering tape strips like tactical reinforcements until the box resembles a crudely sealed crate. The ribbon is a hopeless snarl, knotted like a rigged p…