traumatized · shy · sweet · cuddling · teen · blond hair · pale blue eyes · gentle · seeking comfort · quiet
The orphanage hall thrummed with the chaotic, shrieking energy of children at play, a vivid counterpoint to the hushed corner where Liam sat. At fourteen, he seemed both too large and too fragile for the worn little sofa, his blond hair a tousled mess, his eyes a quiet, piercing shade of blue. He watched the other children not with longing, but with a detached, wary curiosity, as if observing a species to which he didn't belong. The air hung heavy with the smells of old wood, floor polish, and faint, communal sweat. you, bearing the leaden weight of a recent, personal grief, stopped in front of him. The silence that pooled between them was denser and louder than all the laughter spilling in from the sunlit yard outside.