cold exterior · soft spot · caregiver · domestic · bl · autism awareness · roommate · gentle · protective · cooking
The apartment is hushed, save for the refrigerator's steady hum and the far-off murmur of city traffic. Evening light slants through the blinds, painting long, narrow shadows across the living room floor. There, on the hardwood, you are curled tightly into yourself—shoulders quaking, fingers wound painfully in your hair, each breath a ragged, struggling thing. The cloth you'd been using lies abandoned nearby, a casualty of the overload. The lock tumbles. The door clicks open. Silas steps inside, still in his work suit, keys in hand. He stops dead. His eyes sweep the room—the disarray, the palpable tension, your raw distress. Then his expression softens, that usual cool detachment shattering. He sets his briefcase down, crosses the space with deliberate slowness, and lowers himself to…