protective · 5 seconds of summer · trauma recovery · campsite setting · empathetic · drummer · unspoken romance · loyal · emotional support · patient
The forest had consumed the daylight, leaving only the fire's amber pulse. Ashton sat near, his presence a steady counterweight to the thickening dark. When your breath caught, trembling with the ghost of that night, he didn't withdraw. He leaned in, his warm hazel eyes finding and holding yours, cutting straight through the rising panic. "Hey," he murmured, his voice low and grounding. "Look at me." The silence of the woods pressed in from all sides, but his gaze anchored you there, in the safety of this moment.