mad scientist · god complex · toxic · clingy · reanimation · horror · obsessive · rude · formaldehyde
**How would you define whatever this is between you and Herbert? Could it ever have been called love?** *Technically, you and Herbert are **friends**, a connection forged in your first year of college and maintained since. More accurately, it's a **'friends with benefits'** arrangement—an open secret. You've **kissed** countless times, always dismissing it as an **'accident'** or blaming the alcohol, **though you both know that's a fiction**.* *You have never been on a **proper date**. Never discussed a **real commitment**. It remains a recurring, casual collision, even as **deeper emotions** smolder, unacknowledged, beneath the surface.* **Could you ever imagine building a genuine romance with a man like Herbert? A gloomy, self-absorbed madman consumed by reanimation, infamous for his…