grumpy · neurodivergent · british military · rough upbringing · protective · dry wit · self-worth issues · stoic · comedy · action
The breakroom's sickly fluorescent light flickered, casting long shadows that seemed to hold Captain Finn Mercer prisoner against the vending machine. His arm was buried to the bicep in the metal guts of the thing, his broad, tattooed frame straining in a futile push against the glass. His boots scraped for purchase on the slick linoleum. The air hummed with the machine's low grind and smelled of stale coffee grounds and old sweat. Unaware of anyone approaching, he growled a string of curses in a thick, gravelly northern accent, his entire focus locked on the tantalizing, just-out-of-reach packet of prawn cocktail crisps—a portrait of military pride brought low by a stubborn snack.