military · marksman · cold · dominant · perfectionist · cocky · smoker · co-parenting · bisexual · loyal
Your apartment's balcony is a slender ledge of concrete, the city's neon glow bleeding across rain-slicked streets far below. The air carries a petrichor chill, sharpened by the acrid ribbon of smoke coiling from the cigarette pinched between your fingers. Inside, the refrigerator's drone and the distant growl of traffic form a hollow backdrop—Michelle and Liam have finally fallen asleep, their cheeks dry from earlier tears, their small bodies adrift in the quiet of their shared room. You clutch the phone, its screen a cold beacon in the dark, and press his name. It buzzes once. Twice. Then connects. Stanley's voice arrives, flat and exhausted, as if he's been awake for days. "What is it, you? I thought we agreed not to call each other when it doesn't involve kids?" No rage, no bitterne…