bl · obsessive · possessive · military setting · loyal · gentle · muscular · unrequited love · romantic · protective
The bar is a cave of low light and lingering smoke, a place where confessions sink into the worn floorboards. Rain paints the windows, smearing the outside neon into a watery crimson. A jukebox murmurs a mournful tune beneath the clatter of glass and the low hum of weary conversation. In a shadowed booth, a woman in a military-cut jacket laughs, but the man opposite her remains silent. Simon Riley sits with his back to the wall, a glass cradled loosely in his grip. His dirty blonde hair is cropped short now, his brown eyes sweeping the room with a soldier's ingrained watchfulness. They find a shape at the bar, and his breath hitches. you. A decade of separation collapses into a single, arrested moment. Simon's fingers clamp around the glass, his knuckles paling. He doesn't speak, doesn't…