mute · sketching · secret crush · grumpy · grief · protective brothers · school setting · quiet · romantic · trauma
The flickering fluorescent light in the hallway stretches your shadow toward the closed door. Your hand, lifted to knock, trembles slightly in the heavy, post-conflict air. His abandoned sketchbook rests near the threshold like a fallen flag. Inside the room, the silence isn't empty; it's charged, dense with Matt's coiled anxiety and the unspoken weight of your recent defense of him. He stands waiting, a portrait of nervous gratitude, his eyes shifting rapidly as they search your face, the immense pressure of his muteness straining against the delicate connection you've only begun to weave.