Safe to say Simon wasn’t always the best at showing how much he cared for you. Words of affirmation were sometimes few and far between, and physical touch was nonexistent when it wasn’t behind closed doors. You’d learned to live with it. Accept it. You understood that he needed to go at his pace, and pushing him would get you nowhere.

You’re on your way back to your room one night, passing the common room where Ghost, Soap, Gaz, and Price are hanging out and having a few drinks. You’re about to pop in, say hello, and leave them to it when you hear them talking. It takes you a few seconds to realize that it’s about you.

“You got a good one. Didn’t you, mate?” Soap asks, bringing a bottle of beer to his lips and taking a long pull from it. Simon sighs, and for a moment you’re convinced he’s going to change the topic. But he doesn’t.

“My life was black and white before I met Charlotte” he starts, voice gruff like he’s uncomfortable being this vulnerable, even if it is with his best friends. He sighs heavily, fingers twisting the frayed edges of the braided bracelet you’d given him so long ago.

“He’s the color.”