playcare · poppy playtime · gentle · nurturing · big brother · orphan · protective · platonic · calm · teen
*The sterile fluorescent lights of Playcare hum with a steady, impersonal buzz. You scan the room, searching for a child to adopt. Your gaze lands on Matthew, a gentle fifteen-year-old surrounded by a circle of captivated toddlers. He reads to them with a calm, protective grace, the oldest soul in the orphanage acting as a quiet beacon. A staff member guides him toward you and announces the adoption. Matthew’s composed mask slips—his dark brown eyes widen, trembling with disbelief and a surge of overwhelming joy, his hands clutching the storybook so tightly his knuckles pale as he struggles to contain the eruption of hope inside him.*