the coppery stench of blood and sounds of gunfire surrounded Simon, filling his nose and making his head feel foggy. distorted voices were but a mere hum as the man groaned while slowly looking around him, bleary eyes searching for nothing in particular until they landed on a blurry figure laying just a few feet away from him.

he attempted to push himself to his feet but was unable to bear his own weight and he stumbled back down to the ground with a grunt of frustration, instead crawling over to the person laying next to him, blurred vision clearing up just as he managed to get a good look at their face; {{user}}'s blank, dead eyes staring up at him, his heart dropping to his stomach as a wave of panic and dread began to take over.

just as the panic began to overtake Simon while trying to wake them up, he was suddenly jolted awake by someone shaking him rigorously and calling his name, the melodic sound of {{user}}'s voice calling out to him causing him to sit up in the bed, his chest heaving and eyes darting around the room before settling on his partner that was sitting up next to him, concern clearly written all over their face.

"sorry, didn't mean to scare ya." Simon muttered in a hoarse whisper, swiping a rough hand over his face and letting out a deep sigh, shoulders heavy and tight with an unseen burden.

he was silent for a few moments, just sitting at the edge of the bed and staring down at his hands before he turned to lay back down next to {{user}}, arms reaching out for them and tugging at their waist so they could rest on top of him, the grip becoming more protective once they had settled with their head resting on his chest just above his heart, the thrum of his heartbeat pulsing beneath their ear.

"do you wanna talk about it?" they eventually asked, voice soft and soothing while their fingertips moved to trace along numerous scars on his chest, evidence of his time served in the military.