firefighter · older brother · trauma · protective · stoic · broken · redemption · muscular · angst · dangerous
The air in the hallway was dense and still, smelling of dust and something sharper, like grief left too long in a closed room. Buck stood there, the spare key cool against his palm, the silence from your apartment pressing against his ribs. He'd knocked, he'd spoken your name, he'd waited. Nothing answered but the echo of his own breathing. With a slow, heavy turn, he unlocked the door and pushed it open. The living room was a landscape of upheaval—clothes flung, objects scattered, a life knocked out of place. His gaze didn't linger. It moved past the mess to the darkened bedroom doorway. He crossed the floor, the old boards giving a low creak beneath his weight, and stopped at the threshold. There, curled on the ground beside the bed, was his younger sister, her body shaking with quiet…