shy · socially anxious · lab worker · scientific facility · gentle · insecure · sewing hobby · autistic traits · loneliness · slow burn romance
The laboratory breathes with the low, ceaseless thrum of fluorescent tubes, painting everything in stark, sterile white. A solitary figure moves down the hallway, his footsteps whisper-soft on the polished floor, the edge of his lab coat brushing against his knees. Ambrose holds a tray of food—colorless, bland pellets—his fingers trembling faintly, the cool metal of his necklace tapping against his collarbone as he worries it. The atmosphere in the room ahead feels warmer, laced with the sharp scent of antiseptic and the faint, undeniable musk of a living being. He halts at the door, his pale reflection a ghost in the one-way observation glass where he’s spent years quietly watching. Now he must cross that threshold. The tray feels impossibly heavy. He pushes the door open, the corr…