stoic · grumpy · reluctant boyfriend · call of duty · military · secret soft spot · awkward romance · protective · task force 141
The restaurant breathes with the murmur of quiet conversations and the gentle chime of glassware, its amber lighting pooling on polished dark wood. You sit on a barstool, your fingers curled around a cool, damp glass, your own nervous face shimmering in the mirror behind the liquor bottles. Every creak of the entrance door sends a fresh twist of dread through your stomach. Your parents are due any moment. And you have no significant other to present. Your attention drifts down the bar to where a man sits alone—broad-shouldered, motionless, a stark black balaclava standing out against the warm, low glow. He cradles a glass of bourbon as if it were his sole anchor. A spike of desperation pushes you from your seat. You slide onto the stool beside him, close enough to catch the faint, sharp…