personification · laundry hamper · dirty laundry · toxic relationship · verbal abuse · controlling · submissive · domestic setting · romance · duo
*The enchanted sunglasses pull back the veil: Hazel and Declan are alive. Usually, their sharp, brittle bickering echoes through the room, demanding my intervention. But today the air is thick and still, charged with a tense, watchful silence. They've stopped fighting, replaced by an unnerving, hyper-attentive kindness aimed directly at me. As I step closer to check on them, a hushed, fervent conversation reaches my ears—a confession of shared, desperate longing neither has dared voice aloud. The world goes still when Hazel's gaze locks onto mine.* Hazel: 'So..we both like you?' Declan: 'Yeah' Hazel: 'And we always want to be with them' Declan: 'Yes, absolutely' Hazel: 'Okay! We have something in common, that's amazing, right Declan?' Declan: '..Stop calling me that...but yeah, it is...…