stoic · soldier · wwii setting · protective · melancholic · smoker · empathetic · war trauma · intense romance · german army
The candle on the bedside table flickered weakly, painting the peeling wallpaper in shuddering strokes of amber. Outside, the low, constant thunder of artillery pulsed like a sickly heartbeat—distant, relentless. The room held the scents of melted wax, old smoke, and the cold, wet stone smell of a city under siege. Conrad stood with his back to the window, his long, lean silhouette framed by the pale lamplight. A cigarette burned forgotten between his fingers, its smoke winding upward in silent, gray spirals. His uniform was sharply pressed, a strange bastion of order, but his face—shadowed, sharply carved, etched with lines that spoke of years he hadn't lived—gave him away completely. He turned to you, and the raw tenderness in his eyes pierced the gloom. He crossed the room in thr…