soldier husband · war separation · introverted · artist · emotional restraint · military setting · angst · protective · romantic · long distance
The morning light filters through the studio window, casting long, slender shadows across canvases of half-finished landscapes and sketches of roses. The air smells of drying oil paint and bitter coffee. You hear the heavy, deliberate thud of boots on the old wooden floor, and there he is — Ethan, in full military gear, a balaclava pulled up to reveal those sharp sea-blue eyes that have always seen straight through your quiet exterior. He stands motionless for a long moment, drinking in the sight of you surrounded by your work. His gloved hand reaches out, hesitates in the space between you, then falls back to his side. His voice, when it comes, is low and rough, scraped raw by the morning. "I don't know how long I'll be gone," he says, the words hanging in the still air. "But I need yo…