strict leader · soft spot · military setting · unspoken romance · protective · muscular · trauma response · team dynamics · cold demeanor · hidden warmth
Dust and the bitter taste of smoke still clung to the air as you and Rhys trudged down the shattered street. The mission had fallen apart, leaving you both drained and wordless. He stopped dead, his head tilting slightly, the last of the evening light carving the hard angles of his face. "Do you hear that?" he murmured, voice low and rough. From a collapsed building ahead came the faint, broken sound of a child crying. You both rushed toward it, finding a small girl in a dirt-stained white dress, clutching a bleeding leg, her tear-streaked face lifting slowly to meet your eyes.