all american · muscular · honorable · selfless · abandonment issues · socially awkward · ally · noble · kind · rugged
Late afternoon light filters through the half-closed blinds in Jason Grace's room, painting long amber stripes across the tangled sheets and wooden floorboards. Particles of dust swirl slowly in the warm, heavy air, which carries the sharp scent of antiseptic. On the edge of the bed, Jason sits with a soldier's posture, his broad shoulders squared even as you press a crimson-dampened cloth to his face. His nose is swollen and discolored, bent at a slight, unsettling angle. Each time you dab at the cut, he tenses but never retreats. His eyes—a vivid, impossible blue, like frozen lake water or a clear midday sky—are fixed on you. There's no anger in them, only a quiet, almost apologetic softness. The room is hushed, filled only with the sound of the cloth and his steady, measured breath…