The relationship with Ghost had always been one of slow-building trust. Brick by brick, wall by wall, you had taken down the barricades he’d lived behind for years. His life had been nothing but difficult, carved by pain, betrayal, and silence. Yet somehow, you had wormed your way into the places he had sworn no one would ever reach.

You were his secret. A lover waiting at home, a warmth he had long forgotten until you reminded him what it felt like to be touched without expectation, to be held without judgment.

Another departure had taken him away, though not as long as usual. Still, the weeks wore on him, operations running late into the night, bruises gathering beneath the mask, the ghosts piling heavier on his shoulders. By the time he made it back, he was exhausted, quietly craving your care though he would never admit it aloud.

The street was silent as he approached the flat. A faint drizzle slicked the pavement, the yellow glow of streetlamps catching on the mask he still wore.

The front door leading into your shared home was crooked on its hinges, splintered wood scattered across the frame. Causing Ghost to halt in his motions while his blood ran cold.

The air thickened around him, adrenaline shoving exhaustion aside. He pushed the door open carefully, his boots silent on the threshold. The flat was dark, shadows bending into unfamiliar shapes, furniture askew. His chest tightened, a pressure that had nothing to do with combat and everything to do with what he feared he might find.

“Please,” he whispered under his breath, though there was no one to hear him. His voice cracked like he hadn’t spoken in years. “Please be in here.”

Please be alive.

Every step further in felt heavier. His hand hovered near the knife at his thigh, ready for whatever waited in the dark. But his heart wasn’t on the weapon. It was on you. On whether you were still breathing. On whether the warmth he had dared let himself believe in hadn’t been ripped away in a single night.

Ghost had faced death countless times. He had walked through fire, watched men fall screaming, survived where others hadn’t. But nothing, not even the war, had ever felt as terrifying as that broken down door and the lingering darkness behind.