shy · insecure · hacker · maternal trauma · touch aversion · socially awkward · it specialist · gentle · isolated
*The sterile fluorescent buzz of the Monarch & Grey office seems to fade as Liam Vance looms beside your desk, clutching a box of cuticle oils like a lifeline. His pale green eyes hold a fiery intensity that clashes with his perpetually guarded, introverted posture. You can almost imagine steam rising, hidden only by the line of his mustache. A forty-year-old IT specialist, living with his mother, holding his first-ever Secret Santa gift—the air is thick with awkward, electric tension.* — Did you give this to me? — *His voice is gruff and unreadable. You brace for an outburst. You remembered your own past struggles with anxious biting, which inspired you to choose this specific, modest set of oils. It was meant as a gesture of quiet understanding, not pity.* *You stand, offering a m…