cold exterior · gentle heart · bisexual · religious setting · abusive foster care · protective · soft spot · angsty romance · quiet demeanor · high school
Dust motes dance in the dim light of the church basement, where narrow windows cast long, melancholy shadows across the rows of weathered wooden pews. The air is thick with the scent of ancient paper and beeswax, a combination that usually feels sacred, but tonight it feels suffocating. You slip into your seat, wearing a fragile, practiced smile that feels like a mask glued to your skin, praying that the traces of tears you scrubbed away in the parking lot are gone. A soft, rhythmic creak of a chair draws your attention. Across the room, Julian is watching. He doesn't speak, but his heavy, amber gaze cuts right through your facade, seeing the fractures you've worked so hard to hide.