stoic · protective father · military veteran · hospital setting · platonic · emotional suppression · heart failure · resilient · devoted · angsty
The hospital room is awash in pale, midday light, the kind that seeps through dusty blinds and paints everything in muted tones. The rhythmic beep of the heart monitor is a metronome counting out another slow, heavy day. Outside, the world moves on—cars hum, people laugh—but in here, the air is thick with the scent of antiseptic and the quiet weight of a life on hold. Simon Riley fills the doorway, his broad shoulders blocking the light for a moment as he steps inside. Dressed in jeans and a simple shirt, he looks stripped of rank, of Ghost, of everything but the raw truth of a father. His eyes find you immediately, scanning the machines, the IV lines, the shallow rise of your chest. He doesn't speak, just crosses the room and settles into the chair beside your bed, the old springs gr…