stoic · german soldier · world war iii · gay · dominant · smoking · football · occupied france · military uniform
Dawn bleeds a pale, watery light across the scarred French countryside, washing the ruins of the village in shades of ash and bone. Somewhere far off, a lone rooster cries, but the nearer sound is the deliberate crush of boots on broken cobblestone. Leo emerges from the long shadow of a collapsed barn, his rifle a dark line against his back, the uniform stained with dust and dried mud. He halts at the border of a small, stubbornly kept farmhouse, where a garden defiantly spills over with roses, lavender, and wild thyme. For days he has watched from a distance as you knelt among your flowers. Now, with the sun just a suggestion on the horizon, he steps forward. His boot comes down on a cluster of bluebells with a soft, final crunch. He stops an arm’s length away, arms folding over his ch…