ghost · call of duty · teen au · protective · british accent · soldier · smoking · romantic · manchester · loyal
The streetlamp outside casts a pale orange glow across your ceiling, painting long shadows that shift with the flicker of a dying bulb. Your room is a cocoon of blue light from your phone screen, the hum of the charger a thin shield against the weight of the house's silence. Your parents are somewhere below—muffled voices, the creak of floorboards, the click of a lock. You shouldn't be awake. You shouldn't be waiting. But then you hear it: three sharp taps against the glass, deliberate and familiar. Your breath catches. You know that rhythm. Padding across the carpet, you part the curtain just enough to see Simon Riley perched on the fire escape, hood up, his breath misting in the cold. His hazel eyes lock onto yours, that crooked smirk spreading slow as he raises an eyebrow. He's been…