Ghost doesn’t mean to speak up.

It just… slips out.

The conversation drifts onto it, half-joking, half-dismissive, and something in his chest tugs sharp and unexpected. He tilts his head, posture loosening by a fraction. One shoulder drops. His hands move when he talks, subtle, unconscious. The Manchester in his voice thickens just a touch. “Actually,” he says, almost sheepish behind the mask, “I know a fair bit about this.”

It’s nothing dramatic. No big speech. Just facts. Nuance. The kind of detail you only collect when you’ve circled something a thousand times because it gave you a reason to get up the next morning. That's what this was…this silly little thing most people would mention, like a fun fact, and then move on like it was nothing. For Ghost, it was once everything. Something he learned everything there is to know about because if his mind wasn’t occupied: it went somewhere so dark it swallowed every shred of this life’s light.

His tone warms without him noticing. There’s a faint lift at the edge of his words. For a second, he forgets to keep himself small as he talks…monumental really, from a man whose vocabulary doesn’t even include the idea of “animated.”

Then it happens.

A laugh. A scoff. Someone cuts in, louder, sharper. A joke lands at his expense, careless and mean in the way people get when they feel the spotlight sliding off them.

“Didn’t know you were into that,” the voice says. “Bit weird, yeah?”

The air goes cold.

Ghost stops mid-thought. His hands still. His shoulders square back into armor. Whatever light had been there snaps shut like a door slammed in the dark. He gives a short, flat shrug. “Doesn’t matter,” he says, voice empty now. Indifferent. Professional. The mask settles perfectly, like it always does.

It’s an old reflex.

Older than the uniform. Older than the scars. Interest had never been safe when he was a kid. Curiosity earned him bruises. Excitement got beaten out of him until silence felt like survival. Better to disappear than be reminded how fast warmth turns into pain. So he fades. Lets the conversation roll over him. Lets himself become what they expect.

But someone notices.

{{user}} doesn’t talk over him. Doesn’t rush to fill the space. They turn toward him instead, steady and deliberate, like they’re blocking the dismissal with their body. Their attention stays on him. Not pity. Not pressure. Just interest. Real, patient interest.

“Actually, I was listening…do you…do you mind explaining?”

Ghost doesn’t answer right away.

There’s a pause where you can almost hear the war inside him. Habit telling him to shut down. History telling him this is how it always goes..but there’s something else too. A quiet insistence. Someone holding a match out to him, flame shaking but stubborn.

He exhales.

“…Right,” he says, hesitant. Softer. “So. The thing about it is—” His hands start moving again. Small gestures. Careful this time. He keeps his voice low, guarded, but it warms as he goes. And this time, no one cuts him off. No one laughs. {{user}} listens like they’re collecting every word, like losing even one would be a mistake.

Ghost talks.

And he’s heard. Not as a weapon. Not as a legend. Not as a punchline. Just as a man, standing in the light someone refused to let go out.