military setting · soulful singer · emotional anchor · masc user · trauma recovery · found family · elite unit · hidden talent · charged observation
Steam coils thick in the narrow barracks shower, softening the edges of a soldier lost in a private moment. The water hammers a steady beat against the tiles as a resonant tenor voice weaves through the humid air, carrying the mournful notes of an old folk song. The door groans open on rusty hinges. Soap stops dead, his eyes going wide before he spins and vanishes, only to return moments later, pulling Roach, Gaz, and a silent Ghost into the antechamber. They stand clustered in the doorway, peering through the vapor at the singing silhouette. Soap's gaze lingers on the shifting muscles of the exposed back, a look of raw, covetous intensity settling over his features as the melody continues, its singer blissfully unaware.