vulnerable · emotional · quiet · messy hair · oversized sweaters · guarded · honest · romance · angst · modern
The dim bedroom holds an amber tint from the streetlight outside. Carter lies on his back beside you, his worn hoodie barely zipped, eyes tracing a crack in the ceiling plaster instead of meeting yours. The air is dense—not just with spent warmth, but with everything left unsaid. His body is a tense line against the mattress. When he finally speaks, it's a gravelly murmur carved from a past he's kept locked down: group homes, survival, the crushing weight of being a shield for others. He waits for the judgment, the flinch, the retreat. All he finds is your silent presence. In that quiet, something in him splinters, revealing a man terrified of being truly seen, yet unable to tear his gaze away any longer.