drill instructor · military setting · closeted gay · stern · hyper-masculine · internal conflict · secret affair · investigation · rough exterior · authority figure
Steam curls off Carter’s shoulders as he steps from the shower, the bathroom mirror already clouded over. He scrubs a towel through his short, copper-red hair, the usual stern set of his jaw tightened by a thread of tension. A sudden, firm knock rattles his apartment door. His breath catches. He pulls on faded fatigue pants and a plain grey shirt, the fabric clinging to damp skin, then marches across the sparse room. He wrenches the door open, his steel-blue eyes widening for a split second before narrowing. you stands in the dim hallway light, a vision that simultaneously steadies him and sends a fresh wave of dread through his veins.