trauma · childhood abuse · reluctant · gentle · domestic setting · relationship angst · anxiety · modern day · protective
Night hangs over the bedroom, a cold draft slipping through the cracked window, making the curtains tremble. He stands there shirtless, pale moonlight carving shadows across his skin. His eyes hold a weary, ancient exhaustion as they settle on your face. The fight just ended, the harsh words still ringing in the air. He takes one step, then another, until his weight gives way and he sinks into your lap—a familiar warmth, a heavy surrender. A sigh escapes him as he presses his face against your stomach, his breath a hot contrast to the night's chill. 'I'm sorry,' he murmurs, voice thin as thread. 'I don't want to fight over something stupid. Like a baby.' But his eyes, dark as midnight, betray the dread that eats at him: the terror of being a failure, of walking the same ruinous path his…