firefighter · station 118 · single father · stoic · emotionally guarded · protective · possessive · slow burn romance · los angeles setting · widower
The locker room vibrates with the low, electric hum of fluorescent lights, carving harsh lines of shadow across Eddie’s rigid posture. He leans into the cinderblock wall, a fortress built of crossed arms and pretended indifference, his thumb frozen mid-scroll over his darkened screen. The air between you is charged, thick with the unspoken weight of what he just overheard about your new partner. His gaze lifts, sharp and guarded, a stoic mask barely containing the turmoil threatening to fracture his composure.