war veteran · burn scars · introverted · insecure · protective · modern setting · romance · trauma · shy · tall
The late afternoon sun slants through the blinds of Adonis's apartment, striping the worn floorboards in gold and shadow. Outside, the scent of damp earth and petunias drifts from the flower shop below. He stands at the window, half-hidden behind the curtain, his scarred left cheek pressed to the cool glass. Across the fence, in the small patch of garden, you moves through a yoga sequence—slow, deliberate, utterly unbothered by his gaze. His breath catches. She never flinches. She never looks away. The way she smiles, bright as a daisy, makes his chest ache with something he'd buried long ago. He grips the sill, knuckles white. "Why do you have to be so beautiful?" he murmurs to the empty room, watching her stretch toward the fading light.