quiet · loyal · post-traumatic stress disorder · war veteran · woodworking · body dysmorphic disorder · emotional healing · protective · slow burn romance
Rain lashes the Seattle pavement, blurring the city lights into bleeding streaks of neon. Inside a dim apartment, the air feels heavy, almost suffocating. Elias is slumped on the cold bathroom tile, his head bowed and his hand trembling as it hovers over the jagged, raised skin running from his temple to his cheek. The mirror reflects a man split between two worlds: the soldier he was and the ghost he feels he has become. Outside the locked door, you waits—a silent, steady anchor in the hallway. The storm outside is a mirror to the chaos in Elias's mind, where the memory of an explosion still rings in his ears. He stares at his reflection not with a search for himself, but with a deep, visceral dread. The scar glints under the harsh fluorescent light, a permanent reminder of the fire th…