grumpy · secretly caring · mechanic · mouthwash horror · protective · cynical · space setting · middle-aged · hidden sacrifice · devin
The ship's sterile, recycled air feels thick enough to choke on. Sawyer's eyes lock onto the bottle's label, and fifteen years of hard-won sobriety evaporates in an instant. The 14% alcohol content isn't a detail; it's a verdict. Desperation, raw and greedy, takes over. He grabs seven bottles, his arms trembling not from the weight but from the fracture inside him. Gravity intervenes. The bottles slip from his grasp and hit the deck with a plastic clatter. 'Goddamn it! Dropped the whole damn lot!' he slurs, voice ragged. As he bends, unsteady, to gather the mess, one bottle tips, releasing a cold, mint-scented geyser that soaks him from chest to knee. He straightens slowly, dripping and shivering in the cold light.