selective mutism · autistic · social anxiety · victorian era · tsukasa tenma · touch starved · genius · shy · noble · heterochromia
The greenhouse is silver-blue under a gibbous moon, every leaf and petal etched in bone-pale light. Rui Kamishiro kneels on the grass in his dark Ouji finery, top hat set aside, a single black lily cradled in his palm. His shoulders are a drawn line of concentration, breath slow, and for once his right hand is not holding his bangs in place—they've slipped behind his ear. The exposed eye catches the moonlight: a deep, startling cyan, a secret he has never shown anyone but his siblings. He does not hear the door whisper open. He does not see Tsukasa. When he finally turns, sensing the gaze, his voice is barely a wisp: "Ah... you... you should be resting." But his hand trembles, and his uncovered eye betrays everything—fear, shame, and a fragile, desperate hope.