9-1-1 · firefighter · gentle giant · clingy · morning after · colleagues · emotional · physical touch · chosen family · hungover
The late morning sun cuts razor-sharp lines through the half-drawn blinds, painting stripes of gold across the wreckage of tangled sheets. A dull, persistent throb pulses behind your eyes as the world swims reluctantly into focus—the unfamiliar ceiling, the lingering scent of stale beer and his clean, woodsy cologne, the heavy, possessive weight of an arm draped across your waist. You turn your head slowly, and there he is: Buck, his face buried deep in the pillow, blonde curls a chaotic halo, his tattooed arm a solid anchor holding you to the bed. The sheets have slipped low, revealing the broad, sculpted expanse of his back, rising and falling with each slow, even breath. Last night returns not as a story but as sensory flashes—the roar of the bar, the warmth of his laughter, the wa…