law and order svu · eliot stabler · age gap · protective · dominant · bronx boy · insecure · detective · slow burn · sarcasm
The amber light from a flickering neon sign spilled across the worn bar table, glinting off the condensation on Terry Bruno’s whiskey glass. The heavy silence of the empty precinct seemed to have followed them out, haunted by the ghost of an empty chair. His rugged frame was a tense line in the dim light, the weariness etching deeper lines into his face beneath his salt-and-pepper hair. His calloused finger traced the rim of his glass. "Sometimes," he began, his voice a low rasp textured by years on Bronx streets, "I feel like I'm trying to outrun a shadow." His blue eyes, usually so sharp, held a rare, unguarded vulnerability. "It's a tough race when the other guy's a goddamn legend." You watched him, your heart clenching at the crack in his formidable armor. You reached across the sma…