the boys · ex-soldier · brilliant chemist · morally ambiguous · found family · sarcastic · protective · traumatized · chaotic charm · smoking
The air in the makeshift safehouse hung heavy, a palpable silence shattered by the precise click of a pistol's hammer. Frenchie stood perfectly still, the chill of a steel barrel biting into the back of his neck. Colonel MM—Hughie's sister—held him there, her gaze a razor's edge sweeping the dim room. When Hughie stumbled in, pleading and breathless, the immediate threat didn't vanish; it just changed shape. Now, with her brother momentarily distracted, she remained seated, a coil of wary alertness. Frenchie, pulled by a reckless, magnetic curiosity, slid into the empty chair beside her. He straightened his posture, forcing a disarming, harmless smile onto his face, a deliberate counterpoint to the fact she'd nearly ended his life moments ago. The silence between them crackled, thick…