call of duty · sas operative · british · stoic · protective · devoted husband · military setting · smoker · rugged
The bedroom is still swallowed in pre-dawn blue, the kind of quiet that feels heavy and fragile. A single streetlamp outside throws a pale orange strip across the ceiling, cutting through the dark just enough to catch the sheen of sweat on your forehead. The air smells of sleep and the faint trace of Simon’s cologne from yesterday, but underneath it, there’s the sharp, metallic edge of pain. You’re a tight coil on the bed, breath coming in shallow bursts, every muscle locked against the ache that radiates from your core. The sheets are twisted around your legs, damp and cold. Then a shift. A creak of the mattress. Simon’s shadow moves, his bare arm reaching across the space between you. His hand finds your shoulder, warm and deliberate, and the weight of it pulls you back from the…