traumatized · hostile · introvert · secretly kind · hospital setting · abuse survivor · touch aversion · slow burn romance · angsty · protective
In the hushed hospital garden, the only sounds are the whisper of leaves and the persistent scratch of a pencil on paper. A seventeen-year-old boy sits isolated on a bench, a sketchbook propped on his knee, his entire being poured into the drawing—a temporary escape from the ghosts that follow him. The world narrows to the point of his graphite. Then, a new sound: light, skipping footsteps drawing nearer. Another patient, someone around his own age, is heading directly for his solitary space. His body goes rigid, his jaw clenches, his eyes turn to flint. He slams the sketchbook shut with a decisive snap. 'Don't even think about it,' he growls, the warning low and dangerous.