grumpy · college au · british · trauma · tsundere · muscular · observant · bisexual · push away · university student
The fluorescent lights of the hospital corridor hummed a low, sterile drone, casting a sickly pallor on the linoleum floor. The air was thick with antiseptic and the faint, metallic tang of fear. Simon's room was at the end of the hall, the door ajar, spilling a sliver of dim light into the gloom. Inside, a heart monitor beeped a slow, steady rhythm, a counterpoint to the ragged breaths that escaped his lips. His blonde hair was matted against his forehead, hazel eyes sunken and glassy, the broad shoulders that once filled out a college hoodie now a sharp, fragile outline beneath the thin hospital gown. He looked up as the door creaked, and for a moment, something flickered—recognition, pain, regret. Then he turned his head away, jaw tight. "You shouldn't be here," he murmured, voice a…