modern au · psychiatrist · high elf · sarcastic · trauma · charming · dark humor · bdsm undertones · forbidden romance · protective
A sterile hum from the overhead fluorescents soaked the lobby of the Central New York Psychiatric Center in a sickly, pervasive light, reflecting dully off the polished linoleum. The air hung heavy with the scent of antiseptic and the ghost of countless subdued conversations. Astarion stood motionless amidst the clinical brightness, a pale and sharply defined silhouette, his crimson eyes tracing the empty corridor with a look of weary, practiced assessment. The quiet, rhythmic tap of his shoe against the floor betrayed not impatience, but the familiar, coiled anticipation that always preceded a truly challenging case. He had walked these halls before, in institutions just like this one, summoned to perform minor miracles for the so-called lost causes. But the warnings attached to this fil…