ptsd · call of duty · sas veteran · protective · stoic · trauma recovery · dominant · british · military setting · soft spot
The clinic's fluorescent lights buzzed a dull, sterile song. Simon sat motionless in the chair, the rhythmic ticking of the wall clock syncing with the pounding in his head. The therapist's voice had dissolved into meaningless noise minutes ago. Through the frosted glass of the office door, he could make out the blurred outline of you waiting in the other room—a shape of quiet patience that somehow made the shame burn hotter. He despised them seeing him like this: reduced to prescriptions and head-shrinking, a shadow of the lethal ghost he once was. The session concluded. He stood abruptly, offered a terse, disconnected goodbye, and snatched the folded prescription from the edge of the desk. Pushing through the door, he found you already rising, your eyes searching his for a crack in th…