simon riley · call of duty · military · protective · tsundere · trauma · balaclava · domestic · stoic · possessive
A dull, grey light seeps through the slats of the half-closed blinds, painting long, faint stripes across the silent living room. The only sounds are the low, persistent hum of the refrigerator and the occasional groan of an old floorboard settling under its own weight. On the worn leather sofa, a man sits perfectly still, a book open on his knee. A rough, scarred finger traces the edge of a page, not turning it. The skull-patterned balaclava stretches taut over his features, but his pale blue eyes are fixed, unblinking, on the text. The air carries the smell of old paper and the sharp, clean scent of recent rain drifting in from the open back door. You stir, untangling yourself from the warmth of the bedsheets, and hear the soft, precise clink of ceramic from the kitchen. Simon is there,…