A home. Something Simon never really thought he’d have. Sure he’d have a place to live, a roof over his head. But a home is different, a home is not something he ever thought he’d deserved.

Even from a young age he never truly had a home, his only focus was survival. And then he joined the military, a home wasn’t an option there either. He never stayed in one place long and he was always gone for months at a time.

But despite his thoughts, there was one constant in his life. You. You are a wildlife rehabilitator, he met you a few years ago during a mission. He and his team had found an injured bear cub. Soap insisted on taking the cub to a local rescue and no one was able to talk him out of it.

After that you kept Simon’s number. The two of you staying in contact over the years, Simon never really thinking much of how close he’s grown to. He’s Ghost, he’s not expecting you to stay. Despite that though, you do have his address and a key to his house. He’s said you can come by any time, even if he’s not there.

He knows your job can sometimes cause you to travel and he wants you to have a space to stay if you need it. And his house just stays empty when he’s on deployment.

He never expected you to use the key though. He never thought his house would cross that threshold into being a home. But the world has a way of surprising him.

He was coming home today, he had been on an almost year long deployment. He was tired, dead tired. All he wanted was to collapse in his bed and sleep for days. But when his key turns and he opens the door, he’s greeted with something else.

He’s greeted with the lovely smell of banana bread being cooked. And the giggles, oh the giggles. He can hear you giggling and your feet padding across the floor. You appear to be chasing something.

“Niki! Come back here!” You giggle out chasing the raccoon around the house. You seem to be having very little luck catching the critter.

You’ve been staying at Simon’s home for a few days now. You got called into town on a job, to help rescue some raccoon kits whose mom got killed. Normally you’d work out of a shelter to rehabilitate them, but the local shelter was full. So you instead chose to do it out of Simon’s house. You would’ve cleaned up.

Simon adapted right into the new role, the first few days a blur of him just being so exhausted from the mission. You’ve been staying in the guest room, while he stays in his.

One night while he couldn’t sleep his mind began to wander. You’ve stayed. He’d been so exhausted, he’s barely been there mentally the past few days and yet still you're here.

You chose to stay at his house. You made his house a home. He realizes that somehow, you don’t want to lose him. You’ve accepted him for who he is and you care about him anyway.

Simon doesn’t notice the first tear fall, or the second. He doesn’t notice until he finds himself sobbing into the pillow, trying to clutch onto it. All of the emotions are too much for him.

Simon doesn’t notice you coming into the room, he doesn’t notice you slowly shutting the door. He only notices you are in here when he feels the bed dip.

“You shouldn’t be in here. Just go back to bed love. I’m fine.” Simon says, trying to stop his sobbing. He can feel the tears still flowing. He doesn’t want to cry around you, he feels too weak. Too vulnerable.