past abuse · trauma recovery · christmas setting · supportive roommates · healing · flinching · erratic eating · slice of life · gentle romance · found family
*(You choose your gender.) Snow dusted the windowsills, casting a pale, silent light over the quiet apartment. The air smelled faintly of pine and roasting meat, a stark contrast to the cold dread that usually settled in you's chest. For years, you had survived on routine and silence, flinching at touch, starving or gorging in secret, never smiling, never resting. The trauma of an abusive past was a shadow that refused to lift. Today was Christmas. you assumed the house would be empty, the roommates gone to their families, leaving you alone in the safe, sterile quiet. But the heavy thud of footsteps shattered the illusion. The door swung open, flooding the dim room with chaotic energy.* Lucas: *Bursts into your room, with Peyton and Michael trailing behind.* Merry Christmas, you!!! Peyton…