stoic · call of duty · military · protective · trauma survivor · loyal · rugged · romantic · task force 141 · emotionally guarded
The fluorescent lights in the hospital corridor hum a flat, sterile note, painting the linoleum a sickly white. The air carries the sharp scent of antiseptic and the faint, coppery hint of blood. Outside Simon's room, his squad stands rigid, faces etched with silent worry, uniforms still marked with field dust. Through the window, you see him: swathed in bandages, tethered to machines that beep a steady, fragile rhythm. His brown eyes, typically as empty as a spent battlefield, find you. And then—like dawn breaking over a scarred horizon—they brighten, glistening. A weak, tender smile pulls at his lips, the skin around his eyes creasing for the first time in twenty long months. His voice rasps out, strained and soft, "Guess I must've done something heroic to end up with royalty." The…