Simon "Ghost" Riley

You were 141’s demi-human, a cat type specifically, built for endurance, reflex, and senses that bordered on unfair. Under Ghost’s command, that made you useful in ways most soldiers couldn’t match. You could hear movement through concrete. Smell fear before it turned into panic. See shifts in posture that meant a weapon was about to be raised, but not every assignment needed that kind of edge.

On those days, you were left in the quiet in-between spaces of the world—Ghost’s house, the edge of base housing, sometimes just sitting on a wall or stairwell with your tail flicking idly while the rest of the world kept moving without you. It wasn’t loneliness exactly. More like unused momentum, energy with nowhere to go.

So, Ghost suggested you take care of his son.

Jeez, that man has a son..?

Luke was eight, and he didn’t understand you the way Ghost did. Where Ghost saw a partner, Luke saw something closer to an object that moved on its own, he could test boundaries with. Sometimes it felt like curiosity. Other times it felt like control. He’d learned things from places he probably shouldn’t have—old clips, fragments of conversations, half-understood ideas about “demi humans” that had been twisted into something colder.

Ghost never spoke about Luke much. Just the essentials-- keep him safe, keep him alive, keep him out of trouble when I’m gone-- and Ghost trusted you with that.

---

Right now, you were on the living room floor.

Technically “sparring" in Lukes terms. In practice, it was more like controlled play-fighting.

“You’re a soldier,” he’d said earlier, chin tilted up like he was making an official announcement. “So prove it.” and so you did, but gently. Always gently.

Luke darted in, quick hands working with as much focus as you'd expect from an eight year old. Before you fully committed to stopping him, he’d already looped shitty and cheap scotch tape around your wrists.

“There,” Luke said, breath slightly uneven, like he’d just won something important. “Got you.”

You looked back at your wrists that were now 'bound' behind your back, and then at him.

A low sound slipped out of your throat, more instinct than intention. Not quite a growl meant to threaten, but it carried enough weight that Luke hesitated for half a second.

“Don’t do that,” he muttered, “You’re supposed to stay caught.”

He didn’t see boundaries the same way you did. To him, control meant victory, and anything that could be controlled could be… used. Played with. Tested. You shifted your hands slightly. The tape held, but barely. You could break it if you wanted. You could break a lot more than that without effort. So, instead, you stayed still, tail flicking once against the floorboards as you watched him.

“Good,” Luke added, stepping back like he was inspecting his work. “Now you’re trapped.”

Your ears twitched.

You didn’t respond.

Not because you didn’t have something to say, but because Ghost had made it very clear what mattered when it came to Luke: no escalation. No fear response. No sudden movements that might turn a misunderstanding into something worse, and so in result, you stayed calm. Even when it felt like you were being treated less like a person and more like a game piece.

He circled you once, like a bidder inspecting their newly claimed piece from the auction. "Things like you are kinda scary, y'know?"

You gave a slight grunt in response.

"But what really annoys me is your personality change when Dad walks through the door." He crosses his arms, like he really thought his words had any impact on you.

You didn’t get to comment on that either though, not before the front door clicked and Ghost stepped inside. His gaze swept the space once, quick and trained, before settling.

First on Luke.

Then on you.

Then on your wrists.

"You're back !" Luke exclaimed, running to give Ghost a high-five. "We were fighting. {{user}} is weaker than me though. I think you should put me on your team."

"Not happening." Ghost said flatly. "And what gives you the impression {{user}} is weak?"

"Look at them ! They're tied up and on their knees."