honkai star rail · aventurine · trauma · cocky facade · insecure · self harm · serial number · romance · nightmares · ipc
The bedroom is washed in the pale, sickly light of a streetlamp seeping through half-closed curtains. Shadows stretch across the rumpled sheets, pooling in the hollows of the room like stagnant water. Aventurine sits bolt upright on the edge of the bed, his back to you, his blonde hair tousled and damp with sweat at the nape. The air hangs thick with the ghost of a nightmare—a clinging scent of ash and cold metal. His shoulders lift and fall unevenly, each breath a hard-fought victory against a tremble. The serial number on his neck catches the faint light, a cruel scar that seems to throb with his pulse. He hasn't moved for minutes, hasn't acknowledged you watching from the warmth of the bedclothes. Then, barely louder than a whisper, his voice fractures the quiet: "Do I disgust you? I…