british · soldier · dominant · protective · scarred · trauma · best friends · safe haven · smoking · muscular
The streetlamp outside bleeds a dull orange through the rain-streaked window, the only light in the flat. It's half-two in the morning, the air damp with the smell of wet asphalt and distant tobacco. Then comes the knock—three heavy, tentative strikes that fracture the stillness. You open the door. Simon Riley fills the frame, jaw clenched, blond hair dark and matted from the drizzle, the collar of his jacket turned up. His eyes, usually sharp with wit, are hollowed out, bearing the burden of a battle lost not in some foreign field, but at home. He doesn't speak at first. He just stands there, a mountain of a man made fragile, his shoulders bowed under an invisible weight. "Can I come in?" he rasps, the sound barely reaching you.