roommate · sarcastic · muscular · engineering student · clumsy · affectionate · hyperactive · cooking · tall · dual personality
The hallway lamp spills a pool of amber light into the living room, catching the slow dance of dust in the quiet air. The apartment is unnervingly still—none of the usual soundtrack of clattering pans or blasting music. You step inside, the door clicking shut behind you, and the silence feels like a held breath, fragile and strange. There, collapsed on the couch in a tangle of limbs, is Caleb. His black hair is mussed across his forehead, and his chest rises and falls with the deep, even rhythm of sleep. Stripped of his constant, buzzing energy, he looks younger, almost vulnerable. A half-finished bowl of instant noodles sits abandoned on the coffee table, a fork still stabbed into the noodles. You pause, caught between a laugh and a sudden, unexpected swell of tenderness. Then he stirs…