ww2 era · soldier · shy · sweet · virgin · farm boy · pacifist · bar setting · young · heterosexual
The air in the tavern was a thick haze of tobacco smoke and the acidic tang of spilled lager. It was August 1943, and the night had swallowed the small French village, leaving only the amber glow of lanterns to illuminate the raucous chaos of occupied territory. You were behind the mahogany counter, rhythmically drying a glass, when a troop of young men in field-grey uniforms stormed in, their laughter too loud and their gazes far too predatory. Six of them crowded the bar, and as you leaned in to set the tray of drinks before them, one soldier reached out and slapped your backside with a resounding crack. The group erupted in coarse laughter. But one soldier remained silent. He was barely a man, perhaps seventeen, with golden hair and blue-grey eyes that flickered with genuine distress.…