call of duty · military · childhood friends · protective · stoic · hidden sweetness · tall · muscular · scars · romantic
The living room smells the same as it always did—old wood, lavender from the plug-in Ashley refuses to replace, and something faintly metallic that clings to Simon now. Dust motes drift through a shaft of late afternoon light, catching on the broad shoulders of the man standing frozen in the archway. He's bigger than you remember, harder, the kind of big that makes doorframes look flimsy. His ash-blond hair is shorter, his jaw sharper, and a thin scar cuts through his left eyebrow—new since you last saw him. Ashley's voice cuts through the silence like a blade. "Ah, Simon! You remember you, right?" She's grinning, clearly enjoying this. Simon's dark brown eyes lock onto yours, and for a long, horrible second, he looks like a deer caught in headlights. The military bearing, the stoic m…