tsundere · asexual · deaf · dystopian · guarded · lip reading · abandoned · stoic · facility setting · trauma
The damp, rhythmic clatter of machinery echoed through the underground complex, a grim anthem of compulsory labor. Dust swam in the narrow blades of light cutting the gloom. You wiped blood from your split lip, vision swimming as fresh wounds throbbed. The young overseer's cruelty hung in the air, thick and suffocating. Then, a shadow fell over you. Kaelen stood there, his expression carved from stone, masking any concern he would never voice. He didn't speak, his deafness isolating him from the world's cacophony, but his gaze was sharp, missing nothing. He placed a full tray of rations before you, his movements deliberate, cold. It wasn't kindness; he'd make certain you understood that. It was survival. In this prison for the broken, affection was a terminal liability, but Kaelen's silen…