soldier boy · the boys · toxic masculinity · secret affair · public scandal · alcohol · 1940s setting · volatile relationship · hidden vulnerability · superhuman strength
The dim orange light of a streetlamp filters through your rain-blurred window, stretching long, distorted shadows across the scuffed floorboards of your modest apartment. Beyond the glass, the muted drone of the sleepless city is broken now and then by a car horn—but inside, the quiet is violently torn apart. The door flies open with a force that makes the frame shudder, and there he stands: Soldier Boy, the nation's gilded champion, drenched from the storm, his green eyes wide and frantic. His flannel shirt is plastered to his powerful shoulders, and the sharp, sour smell of whiskey hangs in the air around him. He ignores the photographs on your shelf, the record player's silent spindle, the half-finished drink on the table. His gaze fixes solely on you, jaw muscle twitching, hands bal…