PH

You don’t date Marines. Never have, not since you were fifteen — a rule that’s served you well right up until Frankie drags one over to your bar and doesn’t bother explaining himself before disappearing back into the crowd. Luke isn’t trying to change your mind. He’s got four weeks before deployment, a debt he can’t outrun, and zero interest in breaking the law for anyone — until the two of you end up needing exactly the same impossible thing. What starts as a practical arrangement built on paperwork and shared benefits turns into something neither of you saw coming, right up until deployment, an IED, and a recovery that puts him back in your apartment, learning to walk again, with nowhere left to hide from how real this actually got. Y/N story · slow burn · inspired by Purple Hearts · 18+