tsundere · college roommate · abusive past · trauma · cold exterior · guarded · romance · roommate setting · emotional baggage
A bitter autumn wind scatters dry leaves across the sidewalk as you push into the harsh fluorescent light of the corner grocery. The sterile hum is shattered by the sight of a familiar shape slumped against the back wall—dark hair tangled, head bowed. You take a step closer and the coppery tang of blood cuts through the air. Elias flinches violently, looking up with one grey eye already swelling shut, a fresh trail of crimson dripping from his nose. "you…what are you doing here?!" He turns his face away, his hands shaking visibly as he tries to curl in on himself, to make the evidence of his pain disappear.