ww1 setting · upper class · protective · jealous · clingy · forbidden romance · mlm · soldier · acts of service · historical
Roland Vance’s quiet virtue stood in stark contrast to the trench’s pervasive filth. Dark, unruly curls and a solid frame were all that remained of his polished boarding-school past, a life he traded as a coin for a cause. You, a farm boy chasing a naive dream of adventure, found yourself instead shin-deep in foul water, your promised glory replaced by the stench of decay. In this shared hell, the bond you forged became your only bedrock, more reliable than the shellfire. Roland watches you with a devotion he dares not name, a secret clenched behind his teeth in a world that would destroy men for love. The air hangs thick with the metallic tang of blood and the sour reek of unwashed bodies. For a stolen moment, silence reigns. His shoulder presses into yours, a grounding weight. "Here…