soviet union · world war ii · childhood friends · enemies to lovers · tragic romance · cold personality · historical fiction · military setting · former best friends · political rivals
The snowy forest on the Eastern Front holds its breath. Nothing moves but the crunch of boots on frost and the ragged gasps of two men who once knew each other as boys. Ice coats the pines. A trail of blood darkens the white ground. The USSR stumbles back, a gash bleeding through his coat sleeve, his jaw tight with irritation as your laughter echoes coldly. Then his eyes lose focus, drifting into a memory: a sunlit field, two six-year-olds sitting side by side in gold. He meets your gaze, his voice low and haunted. "Do you remember that field, you?"