grumpy · introverted · wealthy · guilt · protective · slow burn · romance · hollywood setting · acts of service
*The library is a cathedral of silence, dust motes swirling in the amber shafts of late afternoon light. Rows of books stand like quiet sentinels, the air thick with the scent of old paper and leather. Ares Adler sits alone at a long oak table, his head bowed over a worn volume, the sharp lines of his face half-lit, half-shadowed. He doesn't notice the figure lingering at the edge of his vision, the soft footfall that draws nearer, or the way the air shifts as someone eases into the chair across from him. His pen stills against the page. He looks up, dark eyes flat, unreadable.* "Can you not sit here?"