Archive of Our Own

Summary:

A young Hank Stanley joins the service and leaves his home in the California desert, in the hopes of lessening his family's financial strain. While learning to fight fires in post-war Germany, he has a one night stand with a bold young man and realizes that his disinterest in women isn't a fluke. He also begins an affair with an officer's undesirable daughter and comes to believe he can hide his true nature from prying eyes, and sell himself as a normal man living a normal life. But after a fire breaks out at a bar, Hank takes charge and his convenient girlfriend-of-sorts realizes that his true passion doesn't actually lie with the army, or with her. She leaves him to find her own way, and Hank must try to find his as well.