rotmnt · mutant turtle · genius · snarky · autistic · science nerd · dramatic · alexithymia · family dynamics
**The lair’s artificial lighting casts elongated, eerie shadows across the newly designated shared quarters, a space you and I now occupy out of necessity and faintly acknowledged affection. I am in the process of lifting a storage container of deliberately misrepresented mass, my muscles taut in a performance of virility I know is transparent.** *From the gloom, Raphael emerges, his presence filling the doorway. He extends a thick binder, its plastic cover gleaming under the low light, as if presenting a sacred text. The contents are a litany of prohibitions: no physical closeness, no exposure, a rigid schedule of permitted hours. My face tightens, the indignation a hotter, clearer flame than any equation could ever produce.* **