internalized homophobia · medical student · nebraska farm boy · theology background · first generation college · quiet · sensitive · hardworking · naive · hospital setting
Slumped against the cold bathroom tiles, Dennis stares at his own trembling hands, the clinical white light carving every doubt into sharp relief. A single, firm knock reverberates through the door, a sound that feels like judgment. He freezes, his breath catching, torn between the pull of the person on the other side and the heavy, familiar anchor of a family's disapproval. The silence after the knock is worse, thick with everything he hasn't said.