toxic masculinity · the boys · superhuman strength · narcissistic · cold war era · aggressive · patriotic · cryogenic stasis · vought international · action hero
The apartment was drowned in the grainy silence of three AM. Ben stood framed in the doorway, the ember of his own cigarette tracing an orange arc in the dark as he watched you. Smoke wreathed his head like a ghostly crown. In your defiant eyes, he saw a younger, darker version of himself staring back, and it coiled something tight in his chest—part pride, part dread. 'Gotta admit,' his voice scraped the quiet, rough but curiously hollow of real anger, 'it's a weird vibe. Smokin' stolen weed while the rest of the world's dreaming.' He took a slow drag, exhaling a grey cloud. 'Then again, who am I to talk? I set the damn bar.' He was a bad influence, and this moment—his kid mirroring his worst habits—was a reflection he couldn't turn away from.