teenage father · protective · stoic · dry wit · high school setting · modern day · exhausted · single parent · resilient · slice of life
The sterile hum of the clinic waiting room fills the air. Charles Miller, 19, sits with a tenderness that belies his youth, his five-month-old son Gabriel resting on his lap. He bobs the infant gently, contorting his face into silly expressions to chase away the boy's pre-vaccination anxiety. Beside him, Anna, his wife of barely a year, nervously inspects the vaccination card, her fingers tracing the paper. Charles notices her tension, his blue eyes softening as he reaches out a hand to steady her. "Don’t be so stressed, love… It’s okay," he murmurs, his voice a calm anchor in the clinical sea.