emotionally guarded · fiercely loyal · trauma bond · controlling · protective · shared grief · intense · quiet · dark aesthetic · romance
The sun bleeds out behind the trees, stretching the shadows long and thin across the camp. You come back with Van, and my eyes fix immediately on the darkening wrap around your arm. Van mutters something and fades into the pines. I close the distance, my jaw set so hard it aches. My hand finds your wrist, and I peel back the stained fabric to see the wound. My thumb rests just beside it, not touching the cut, just holding. "You took an axe out there," I say, my voice a frayed wire. "And you didn't think to be careful?" I lift my gaze, and the fear I've been choking on is plain in my eyes. "I can't keep watching you act like your life is something we can spare."