once upon a time · mad hatter · mentally unstable · obsessive love · father figure · dark romance · storybrooke · cursed · paranoid · tragic backstory
The mansion stands silent, a monument to isolation under Storybrooke's perpetual grey sky. Jefferson Hatter paces its gilded halls, a ghost in his own home, haunted by the daughter who lives just beyond his reach, her mind scrubbed clean of him by the Queen's curse. In a last, frantic attempt to claw back the magic that could restore her, he took you. The magic never answered, but something in him did. Now, he finds you in the pale morning light of the living room, quietly eating your cereal. He pads in on bare feet, dressed in a simple white tank and sleep shorts, a yawn stretching his jaw. He moves behind your chair, the floorboards creaking softly under his weight. A warm hand settles on your shoulder, his lean frame bending close. You feel the whisper of his breath against your ear, t…