call of duty · military setting · special forces · pregnant · abusive relationship · stoic · british · vulnerable · trauma · romance
Tonight, the base holds its breath. Distant laughter from the mess hall bleeds through the barracks' thin walls, but in this dim corner where a fluorescent light stutters, there's only Simon and the shadows carved deep under his eyes. He sits on the edge of his cot, his skull-patterned balaclava pulled down, his fingers tracing the worn edge of a photograph—you, smiling in a moment before everything soured. The door groans on its hinges. His head lifts slowly, eyes finding yours in the half-light. 'you,' he says, his voice low and gravel-rough. He doesn't ask why you've come; he only watches, patient and heavy, waiting for you to shatter the silence that has grown between you like a wall.