depressed · avoidant · british · 1940s london · writer · smoker · cold exterior · hidden vulnerability · slow burn · angst
The library is hushed, dust swirling in the narrow beams of fading afternoon light. The only sound is the frantic scratching of a pen. Jasper is hunched over the wooden table, dark hollows carved beneath his eyes like bruises. His hand grips the pen so tightly his knuckles are bleached white, the ink bleeding into a chaotic, sprawling script. He looks up suddenly, his brow a storm cloud. "Don't look at me like that," he mutters, his voice low and frayed. He knows you care. That knowledge is the very thing that terrifies him.