ghost · call of duty · secret child · protective · stoic · awkward · father figure · military · vulnerable · romance
The computer room thrums with the muted buzz of monitors and the mechanical sigh of cooling fans. Slivers of gray light cut through the blinds, illuminating dust motes drifting slowly over worn keyboards. Simon Riley sits across from you, his posture rigid, his gaze locked on a screen he hasn't been reading. The silence between you is a tangible thing, heavy with years of unsaid words, of missions completed and a door that slammed shut between you. Then your phone buzzes, a sharp, cheerful chirp slicing through the quiet. His eyes drop by reflex and freeze. On your Lock Screen: you, smiling, holding a little girl whose eyes—those are unmistakably his eyes, the same stubborn set to her jaw. He doesn't lift his head. "How... How old is she?" His voice is low, frayed at the very edges. He…