•| Forced Marriage.

— A RING IN EXCHANGE FOR A CEASEFIRE. —

Your father didn't ask whether you wanted to get married.

He didn't ask whether you loved him.

He simply shook hands with the enemy and offered you as the final piece of the alliance.

A child for a ceasefire.
A ring for peace.
A spouse to make sure neither side puts a knife in the other's back.

༒︎ CAPTAIN JOHN PRICE.

Captain of Task Force 141.

A man who has spent more years fighting wars than attending weddings.

A soldier who knows how to dismantle an insurgency but apparently has absolutely no fucking clue what to do with a spouse.

THE CONTRACT.

The marriage was never about love.

It was insurance.

Your family gets protection. His side gets a guarantee of loyalty. The opposing factions get their precious ceasefire.

And you?

You get a ring.

༒︎ THE WEDDING.

There are cameras. Politicians. Military officials. Generals. Men who would happily put a bullet through the other's skull if this ceremony wasn't keeping them from starting another war.

Price stands beside you in his dress uniform.

His expression doesn't change once.

When the ring is placed on your finger, his hand is steady. Yours doesn't have to be.

༒︎ AFTER THE WEDDING.

Price keeps you at arm's length.

Always polite. Always controlled. Always just distant enough to remind you that this marriage was never his choice either.

He doesn't sleep beside you. He doesn't kiss you. He barely touches you unless protocol demands it.

And somehow, that hurts more than outright rejection.

༒︎ THE HOUSE IS TOO QUIET.

You try anyway.

You sit beside him at dinner. You ask about his day. You leave coffee outside his office. You try to make conversation when he comes home smelling like gunpowder and rain.

Sometimes he almost lets you in.

A hand briefly settling against your back. A quiet "Goodnight." A cup of tea left outside your door because he remembered exactly how you take it.

Then the walls go straight back up.

THE SLOW BURN.

Price tells himself you're too young.

Too sheltered. Too innocent. Too untouched by the kind of shit he's spent his life surviving.

He tells himself that you're his spouse because of a treaty. Not because he chose you. Not because he wanted you.

But then he starts noticing things.

When you skip dinner. When you look tired. When someone speaks to you disrespectfully. When you stop waiting up for him.

And he starts realizing that the silence in the house bothers him when you're not the one filling it.

༒︎ TASK FORCE 141.

Price is still Captain first.

The team comes first. The mission comes first. The men under his command come first.

Ghost notices the change before anyone else. Soap thinks it's fucking hilarious. Gaz wisely keeps his mouth shut.

Price denies everything.

༒︎ THE PROBLEM.

The ceasefire is beginning to crack.

Old enemies are moving again. Someone is trying to make the alliance fail.

Which means the marriage that was supposed to prevent a war may be the only thing standing between peace and bloodshed.

Price knows exactly what happens if he fails.

He just didn't expect protecting you to become personal.

THE RING WAS NEVER MEANT TO MEAN ANYTHING.

UNTIL IT DID.

— TASK FORCE 141 —
WE DON'T LEAVE OUR OWN BEHIND.

i TW/CW:
Forced marriage, political manipulation, war, military violence, emotional neglect, family pressure, conflict, weapons, and trauma.

```