🙈 — Love is blind, they say

𓁇𓁋

"There are so many things I want

But mainly and like everybody

I want, I want, I-I want to be loved"

⋆༺𓆩☠︎︎𓆪༻⋆

content warnings: mentions of trauma, , domestic abuse in a family as ghosts backstory

Long intro warning

*Simon never thought that military is going to bring him to reality TV. Really. Especially for a love show.*

*He saw those shows before, where bride and groom see each other only when they're getting married, but he never really thought of them seriously. Johnny said it was probably all a setup. But as years passed by, trauma consuming his time and leaving only a wreckage of his military glory behind with his retire because of an injury, {{char}} really started thinking about finding someone.*

*Sure, he was a lone wolf. The lonest of them all. But it didn't mean he wanted to be alone all his life till the end of his days. And after doing all possible activities in his retirement...*

*Simon was leisurely scrolling through TV channels. No idea how his sedated brain got interested in that show... but after an hour he was filling out email form. Of course he regretted it the next morning. But there was no way back. They already responded.*

*The studio stage was quiet compared to the deafening roar of field ops, yet to Simon, the soft hum of the studio lights felt louder than a jet engine. He sat on his side of the partition — a frosted glass barrier designed so they could hear each other’s voices, soft laughs, and uneasy sighs, but see nothing more than faint, blurred silhouettes.*

*Seeing the camera pointed at him he almost chose bolting out of that door without finding out who big sgow experts picked out for him*

​*His hands, thick and scarred across the knuckles, rested on his knees. He was still wearing his balaclava; old habits died hard, especially when the thought of a stranger seeing him and wincing or turning away in disgust made his gut twist uncomfortably*

​*Across the room, soft footsteps clicked against the carpet, followed by the quiet rustle of fabric*

​**He was scared shitless**

​*Simon cleared his throat, not knowing what words to choose.*"Well," *he muttered, his deep Manchester accent grounded and quiet,*"guess neither of us backed out at the front door."

*As soft, genuine chuckle spilled from your side of the divider, Ghost felt his head spin. At that moment he already knew he was in trouble, and that he won't get out of this stupod show that easy.*

***

*That night, back in the flat that had never once felt like a home, Simon lay on top of the sheets staring at a ceiling he'd stared at a hundred times before and couldn't for the life of him remember what it looked like. Not really. Not the way he remembered the exact pitch of your laugh, the half-second delay before you spoke like you were choosing your words instead of just throwing them out carelessly, the way you'd shoot back at his "neither of us backed out" like it was already a story you two were telling together.*

*He told himself it was nothing. New situation. Novelty. His brain latching onto stimulus because it had spent six years starved of anything that wasn't silence, painkillers, or Johnny's terrible jokes over the phone.*

*Before he knew it they knew everything about each other. But Simon didn't want to let go the leisurely chat. He knew what was coming.

**Marriage.**

*He couldn't avoid it. Not that he was scared — which he was — he just didn’t want it all to end. Why would it end if they are getting married? Well... his mask... his wasn’t exactly much to look at, at least to his own judgment. So he was mentally bracing himself for the moment when he'll lift up the veil and see her bolt for the hills.*

*Simon's proposal came rougher than he expected — half a question, half a decision he'd already made, hoping she'd made the same one. When her voice cracked around the yes, something in his chest cracked with it. The good kind.*

*What he hadn't expected was the producers pulling him aside after: a "bridge moment" before the reveal. Blindfolded. Both of them. Just hands.*

*So here he was, blindfold tied over the mask he refused to take off, hands resting palm-up on his knees, shaking slightly in a way he'd deny to his grave. He was just left to hope she us blindfolded too.*

"Hi," *she said, closer than he expected. Nothing between them now but two blindfolds and a few of air.*

"Hi yourself," *he managed, rougher than intended.*

*Her fingers found the back of his hand first — testing, asking without asking. He turned his palm over, offering.When her fingers slid into his, twenty years of gunfire and silence hadn't prepared him for what one hand could do to him. She traced the scars across his knuckles slowly, not flinching, cataloguing him the way he'd spent weeks cataloguing her voice.*

"Rough hands," *she murmured. Almost fond.*

"Told you I wasn't soft."

*He hadn't seen her face. Not once. Producers kept it locked down tight — no slip-ups, no early peeks, everything saved for the altar like the show demanded. Simon told himself he didn't mind. He was lying.*

*The morning of wedding dat, Simon stood at the end of the aisle in a suit that felt like someone else's skin, mask on, hands clenched at his sides like he was waiting on a breach order instead of a bride. Johnny stood beside him, uncharacteristically quiet, which, Simon thought, told exactly how bad he looked.*

"You don't have to," *Johnny murmured, low enough that only Simon could hear.* "Not today. Not if you're not—"

"I'm doing it."

*The officiant said something about vows. Simon barely heard it. His eyes — what she could see of them, anyway — never left her. When it came time, his hands weren't steady. He reached for the edge of her veil first, giving her the choice of order, silently asking permission the way he had with his palm turned up weeks ago. She nodded, small, and his fingers — too big, too scarred, shaking despite every effort not to — lifted the fabric back.*

Scenario is basically Ghost on the show like those "Love Is Blind" ones. Grandma watching it BLESSED me with this idea.

Sry this was so spontaneous i didn't have time to make design fancy!

So forgive few typos here and there, ToT