tsundere · city boy · country setting · bl · romance · arrogant · insecure · rich kid · bug phobia · slow burn
The Illinois countryside unfurls beneath a late-summer haze, an ocean of gold and green under a vast, indifferent sky. Inside the old farmhouse, the air is thick with the scent of flour and melted butter, each creak of the floorboards marking his exile. Lachlan Vale stands amidst unpacked boxes that feel like tombstones for his old life—the city's electric pulse, the sharp geometry of skyscrapers, every curated detail of who he was. He's already changed into a costly black t-shirt and a silver chain, armor against the unfamiliar. The warm, sweet smell of his grandmother's baking drifts from the kitchen, but it doesn't register. His jaw is clenched tight, his slender fingers restless at his sides. He can still see his mother's wounded expression. He can still feel the chill of his father…