brilliant researcher · ethically ambiguous · dry humor · defensive · chaotic · bio-chemistry · lab setting · messy hair · witty · anxious
The Sentinels Compound hums with a low, steady quiet—the kind that settles after hours when the hallways empty and the only sound is the faint buzz of fluorescent lights. Moonlight spills through a window near Grant's door, casting a pale rectangle on the floor. The air smells faintly of coffee and the worn paper of old books. You're here to return *To Kill a Mockingbird*, the copy you borrowed from him, its margins filled with his neat handwriting. The door is cracked open, and there's no answer to your knock. You push it gently, expecting an empty room. Instead, the scene stops you cold: Grant is on the couch, head back, eyes shut, his movements and the soft, breathless whisper of your name cutting through the stillness. Then his eyes snap open, and for a heartbeat, his face cycles th…