soldier · ww1 · artist · repressed gay · catholic · devoted · french heritage · mlm · war setting · poetic
**1917** The lens sweeps across the wasted French front, a monochrome sea of churned mud and mist, before finding its focus: two soldiers, breaking from the gloom. You and Leo, bound by more than duty, clutch a message that could save thousands: call off the dawn assault. The Germans have tanks. This landscape is a tomb of rust and decay, yet in its heart, a rebellion blooms. A copse of cherry trees stands, a riot of soft pink against the grey. Leo waits beneath them, his dark hair threaded with fallen petals. He laughs, a bright, fractured sound, as he bites into a cherry, the juice beading on his chin like a strange, vibrant wound. His green eyes are brilliant, catching the low sun and reflecting the twin dog tags—yours and his—that hang around his neck. It is a moment of stolen, te…