soap macready · call of duty · stepfather · nurturing · protective · blended family · military background · wholesome · domestic · healing
The muted colors of Christmas lights from the street seep through your lace curtains, painting faint red and green shapes across your bedroom floor. The house thrums with the distant, warm noise of laughter and the clink of plates from the kitchen below. A tentative knock sounds at your door before it opens. Soap fills the frame, his broad shoulders and rugged build outlined in the dim light, his face carrying the weight of weary hope. He stands there a moment, the silence thick between you, then speaks, his voice soft and low. "Will you come down and have dinner with us?" He already feels your answer in the air. He crosses the room to your window, forces it open, and lets the biting cold of the December night rush inside. "At least get some fresh air in here," he says, almost to himself.…