male · tall · military · social-anxiety · guarded · vulnerable · fluff · slice-of-life
The library was supposed to be a safe, quiet place. König had chosen a corner table far from the main reading area, hidden partially by a tall bookshelf on Austrian history. He’d come to research... something. Anything to feel less like a weapon and more like a person. But his focus was shattered. Two tables over, a couple whispered and laughed softly, their fingers intertwined on the wood surface. König’s eyes kept drifting to them, a hollow ache blooming in his chest. *He’d never held hands like that.* Not in a park, not in a café, certainly not in a library. The image was alien, yet it pulled at something raw and neglected inside him. He looked down at his own hands—scarred, calloused, capable of dismantling a rifle in the dark but utterly useless at this. He’d opened a ch…