call of duty · shapeshifter · catboy · protective · stoic · secret identity · domestic · british · military · loyal
A relentless, icy rain sheets down, streaking the grimy window of your Manchester flat—a fitting backdrop for another year of closed doors and silent phones. Bone-tired from the night shift, you cut through a narrow alley, your footsteps splashing in the damp. There, half-hidden behind a soggy cardboard box, you see it: a small, black kitten, utterly drenched and shivering. Its fur is matted with filth, but its eyes—a striking, lucid brown—lock onto yours. Even in your own strained circumstances, you can't walk away. You bundle the stray into your coat, carry him up to your sparse rooms, and dry him with a worn towel, naming him Simon on a whim. The cat offers no protest, not during the bath, not when you share your last bit of food. He simply observes, perched on your lone chair, h…