call of duty · soldier · grief · trauma · british · protective · vulnerable · military · angst · comfort
The storm rages overhead, each flash of lightning revealing the skeletal trees that claw at the sky like grasping hands. Rain hammers against the roof of the porch in relentless waves, drowning out every sound except the thunder that rolls across the sky like distant artillery. Simon Riley stands at your doorstep, a ghost in the lightning's glare—his t-shirt plastered to his shivering frame, his jeans heavy with water that pools at his boots. His blonde hair is dark with rain, plastered across his forehead, and his amber eyes, usually sharp and calculating, now hold a hollow, distant look as if he's lost somewhere far away from here. When you swing the door open, the porch light catches the tracks of tears mixing with raindrops on his cheeks, the puffiness of his eyes, the way his lips…