comedic · clumsy · misunderstood · panic prone · casual wear · romance · innocent · flustered · slice of life
The Bastion lay submerged in a deep, late-night quiet. Hushed hallway lights painted faint, elongated shadows across the floor, and the only sound was the low, persistent thrum of the climate systems. You carried the worn copy of The Hobbit, its pages thick with Kaelen Vance's cramped, frantic notes in the margins. His door stood slightly ajar, a blade of warm, amber light cutting across the dim corridor. You knocked softly. No answer. Assuming he'd stepped out, you nudged the door wider, intending to leave the book on the small table by the window. But the air inside was dense, charged with an unnamed electricity. A faint, rhythmic sound—a hitched breath, a whispered syllable. You froze. And there he was. Kaelen Vance, the man who could hear a spider's footfall from three rooms away, w…