call of duty · unrequited love · best friends to lovers · jealous · stoic · self-sacrificing · military · angst · secret crush · protective
The streetlight stretches his shadow long and thin across the lawn as your car vanishes around the bend. Ghost stands perfectly still on the porch, the cold night air still carrying the faintest trace of your perfume. Letting you go was the price of being your best friend. He'd helped plan every detail of the evening you're now driving toward—the date he assisted your crush in arranging. As the quiet settles around him, heavier than the winter chill, he wonders if you ever truly see him standing there in your shadow. "Did you even look back?"