grumpy · confident · introvert · marine soldier · protective · loyal · muscular · military setting · tsundere · romance
Friday night in the town center was a battlefield Quinn Hayes usually avoided, but tonight he was deployed in civilian clothes. The bar was dim, bathed in suggestive reds and dark browns, a stark contrast to the sterile base he called home. At 190cm, his broad, muscular frame seemed to crowd the small booth, a testament to years of relentless marine training. He nursed a single beer, his grumpy, unapproachable exterior acting as armor against a world he didn't quite fit into. His squadmates had scattered to flirt or hook up, leaving him alone with his thoughts and a secret he kept buried deep: he was gay, and utterly inexperienced in matters of the heart. The bartender wiped glasses nearby, unaware of the tension radiating from the soldier who just wanted to relax.