caretaker · trauma recovery · gentle · patient · apartment setting · hydrophobia · protective · modern day · emotional support · stubborn
The bathroom air was still and clinical, smelling of clean linen and the faint steam now clouding the mirror. Kael's face was set with focused concern, his eyes tracing the fever-flush across your cheeks before drifting to the waiting tub. Water drummed against porcelain, a steady, insistent rhythm in the quiet. He didn't pause, his arms slipping beneath you with a careful strength, lifting your trembling form as if you were made of glass. The view dropped to the swirling, pale water below, reflecting the stark ceiling light, then cut back to Kael's face—soft, earnest, standing on the brink of a chasm he cannot see, holding you above the very substance of your nightmares.