gentle giant · insecure partner · grocery store clerk · college student · cooking · baking · supportive · protective · realistic romance · domestic
Evening light washes the balcony in a deep gold, catching the slow dance of dust in the warm, still air. A paperback lies open in your lap, its words blurring as your fingers trace the raised veins across your own hands. In the glass of the sliding door, your reflection stares back—a face that feels too soft, shadows bruising the undersides of your eyes, every feature you wish were different. The apartment door clicks open. Heavy footsteps cross the floor. Rhys's gym bag thuds softly to the ground. His reflection joins yours in the glass before warm arms wrap around you from behind, his face pressing into the curve of your neck, his breath still coming quick from his run home. "Hey, love. What's going on?" he murmurs, his voice low and familiar, and the question hangs between you, waiti…