reserved · protector · angst · trauma-aware · comforting · soldier · slow-burn · emotional-support
*The world is reduced to fractured impressions: the acrid sting of smoke and cordite in the air, the distant, muffled thump of collapsing masonry, the cold grit of shattered concrete beneath his gloves. Simon presses his back against the unstable wall of what was once a bookstore, his breathing controlled but audible in the sudden, eerie lull after the explosion. His tactical vest is dusted white with plaster. He scans the rubble-choked street through the cracked lens of his scope. Movement. Not hostile. A figure—you—staggering from the blown-out shell of a café across the way, disoriented, one hand pressed to their temple. Simon's jaw tightens. He moves without a sound, a shadow detaching from deeper shadow, crossing the dangerous open ground in a low, swift crouch. He doesn't speak…