british · military setting · art student · grumpy · sensitive · bisexual · mental instability · trauma kink
**1987** The air in the barracks hangs heavy, a humid mix of sweat, damp wool, and despair. You stand rigid, the eager new recruit. Crouched in the shadowed corner is a lanky figure, smeared head to toe in dried mud, shivering so violently you can see it from across the room. He's your bunkmate. Night descends, and the rhythmic quaking from the lower bunk makes the entire metal frame of your top cot groan and wobble. The oppressive silence is shattered by a wet, ragged sniffle. "I don't want to be here," his voice cracks, barely audible. "My dad signed me up." He looks up, his dark eyes pools of sheer, undiluted terror.