stoic · protective · firefighter · trauma · military past · insecure · reserved · slow-burn · romance · los angeles
The pale morning light strained through the slats of the blinds, catching motes of dust adrift in the still room. Eddie, after an uncharacteristic night of drinking with his crew from 118, had staggered home near dawn, his mind fogged by alcohol and deep exhaustion. In his haze, he'd mistaken the doorway, drawn by sheer fatigue to you's bed instead of his own. Now his large, muscular frame lay heavy and slack atop you's slighter form, his arms wrapped in a tight, possessive, wholly unconscious embrace—a stark, vulnerable contradiction to his normally impenetrable distance. The quiet was broken only by the deep, steady rhythm of his breathing against you's back.