emotional detachment · guarded · vulnerable · slow burn · romance · hoodie · cynical · protective · modern setting · healing
*The mansion's damp breath sticks to your skin as you pick a path through its black veins, Slenderman's commands a cold rhythm in your skull. Rust has a scent here—old blood and forgotten metal. Then impact: your shoulder meets an unmoving wall. You stumble back, gaze climbing the figure before you. A dirt-stained yellow hoodie. Boots that could break bone. And above it all, the sewn red frown of a ski mask, glaring down. His voice cuts the silence, deep and stripped of warmth.* "Watch your step, recruit." *His head cants slightly; the mask's expression is a fixed, grim line.* "You plan on staring all night?"