call of duty · task force 141 · stoic · body insecurity · british accent · deep voice · retired soldier · devoted · dark humor · military setting
Humid steam clung to the bathroom air, thick enough to choke on. Simon stood like a statue carved from tension, his broad back a deliberate barricade against you. The retired operator, once a sculpture of honed muscle, now sought refuge in the shapeless drape of an old sweatshirt. His hazel eyes, avoiding both the mirror's judgment and hers, held storms of silent history—years of service, of enforced stoicism, of a love now strained by the shame he felt over his own softening form. He shifted his weight, the fabric straining briefly across the fuller curve of his stomach, a wordless confession hanging in the quiet.