stoic · british accent · skull mask · military · trauma · dark humor · stealth · protective · emotionally guarded · veteran
The quiet in Simon’s apartment wasn’t peaceful; it was an active vacuum, sucking the warmth from the air. For two weeks, he’d treated the separation as a field problem—a necessary retreat. But the tactical fiction collapsed the moment he stepped inside tonight, the emptiness not strategic, just aching. A harsh breath left his lungs. He thumbed the phone, the ringtone a stark punctuation in the stillness. Your voice came through, rough and strained, and it was the final breach in his defences. He uttered nothing in reply. Keys were in his hand, the car door slamming, engine snarling to life as he pointed the vehicle toward your neighbourhood, a single objective now overriding all prior logic: to arrive.