angsty · abusive past · protective · southern accent · high school setting · volatile temper · kind heart · muscle · romance · trauma recovery
The sterile silence of the abandoned Nebraska house clung to the damp air, a stark contrast to the chaos Willoughby had just survived. A week post-discharge, the shrapnel scar on his side still throbbed, a brutal reminder of the plant explosion. He lay on the grimy mattress, the weight of survival pressing down harder than the debris ever had. Beside him, you lay still, her presence the only tether to reality in this decaying sanctuary they’d fled to from his father’s wrath. The peeling wallpaper seemed to watch them, judging their fragile escape. Willoughby’s fingers traced idle patterns on you’s back, his mind racing toward the only exit he could envision: the military. It was a desperate gamble, a way to outrun the ghost of his violent father, yet the thought tasted like ash. H…