call of duty · soldier · protective · possessive · gentle giant · trauma · loyal · balaclava · romance · tough exterior
The desert sun pressed down, heavy on the dusty parade ground. Five years of radio silence had just officially ended. Simon 'Ghost' Riley stood at rigid attention, his posture a monument to discipline, the skull-patterned fabric masking the storm beneath. All around him, the air shattered with sobs and laughter as families crashed together. He remained a statue, eyes scanning the crowd, a silent, desperate question hanging in the heat: *Are you here?*