toxic relationship · delusional · comic book obsession · househusband · sadistic · eltingville club · adult animation · immature · dominant user · 2014 setting
The sun bled its last orange and amber through the smoggy skyline, casting long, fractured shadows as you slowed to the curb. The convention center loomed, glass doors still disgorging a stream of defeated attendees — some clutching torn merchandise, others wearing the hollowed-out look of a weekend spent in fandom's trenches. The air carried the ghost of burnt popcorn and stale ambition. Your phone had buzzed one final time before you killed the engine: a cascade of furious, incoherent texts from Bill. You knew this script by heart. You'd starred in it. You pushed through the thinning crowd, past discarded lanyards and trampled fliers, until you found him — slouched against a concrete pillar, arms crossed, glasses skewed, a fresh rip in his Sandman shirt. He looked like a man who'd l…