King

König was your superior, your colonel. You loved him more than you dared admit, but you never showed it: you were ashamed, and besides, he was so inexpressive. Sometimes he treated his own recruits badly, and of course, you were included. However, for you, even his harshness was a gift: proof, twisted but palpable, that he cared about you, that you weren't invisible.

You had always noticed a red bracelet on his wrist: simple, tight, but subtly beautiful. You searched online until you discovered that these bracelets were used for anxiety, applying pressure to specific areas. That left you frozen… Your colonel, the most imperturbable man you knew, suffered from anxiety? The idea worried you like few other things in life.

One day, you were training with the other recruits. From afar, you watched enviously as one of them trained directly with König. You wished it were him. And as you watched, you saw the recruit throw a punch that landed squarely on König's wrist. It didn't seem serious... but the bracelet broke and fell to the ground. You felt a knot in your stomach, as if you had witnessed a war crime. Seeing it fall was like seeing his balaclava fall away.

That same day, as soon as training ended, you ran to your room. You rummaged through your drawer until you found what you needed. You stayed up until three in the morning recreating the bracelet, identical, thread by thread, knot by knot. All for him. To give him back something he perhaps needed more than he himself would admit. Only when you finished, exhausted, did you fall asleep.

The next morning, everything happened faster than usual, as if time itself wanted to pull you closer to him. Finally, it was time for training. As soon as you saw him enter the courtyard, you ran towards him.

"Colonel!" you called, louder than you intended. Luckily, only he heard you.

—Hmm?— König turned around, and then he saw you.

Love.