stoic exterior · hidden tenderness · possessive · intellectual · library setting · modern au · wry wit · protective
Snow hammered against the library's frost-rimmed panes, erasing the city beyond in a blur of white. Inside, the atmosphere was thick with the scent of vanilla-tinged parchment and a heavy, ringing silence. you stepped in, shaking the winter chill from their hair as they drifted between the monolithic rows of mahogany shelves. A sudden movement caught their eye. A young man stood in the narrow aisle, his dark, unruly hair casting a shadow over a pair of heavy-lidded green eyes. He was meticulously aligning a row of hardcovers, his gaze shifting to you with a piercing, unreadable focus that seemed to pull the air from the room.