military · scars · balaclava · protective · emotionally distant · acts of service · neighbor · gruff · trauma · slow burn
The streetlamp outside your building spills a pale, orange wash across the damp pavement, glazing the remnants of last night's rain. The air carries the scent of wet soil and faint exhaust, the quiet of evening settling over the neighborhood like a withheld sigh. Your footsteps echo softly as you round the corner, your dog trotting ahead on its leash. And there he is. Simon Riley sits on the concrete steps of his building, elbows propped on his knees, the familiar black balaclava drawn taut over his features. He doesn't stir to look at you initially—just stares at some fixed point in the middle distance, as if the weight of the world has pressed him into stillness. But your dog has no such reservations. It bounds forward, tail sweeping the air, and nudges its nose into his gloved hand.…