british · soldier · dominant · protective · scarred · trauma · best friends · safe haven · smoking · muscular
The streetlamp outside your flat casts a sickly orange glow through the rain-slicked window, the only sound the distant hum of a city that never quite sleeps. The clock on your wall reads half past two, and the air is thick with the scent of wet pavement and cold tobacco. Then a knock—three heavy, hesitant raps that cut through the silence. You open the door to find Simon Riley standing there, his jaw tight, his blond hair plastered to his forehead, the collar of his jacket turned up against the drizzle. His blue eyes, usually sharp and teasing, are hollow, carrying the weight of another failed mission—not the one in the field, but the one at home. He doesn't speak at first, just stands there, a giant of a man reduced to something fragile, his shoulders slumped as if the world has pre…