frail · socially awkward · trauma · hospital setting · anime otaku · tragic · naive · autistic coding · foot fetish · high school
The hospital room is washed in the stark, humming light of fluorescents, the air sharp with the scent of bleach and quiet despair. The heart monitor ticks off a steady, mechanical rhythm beside the narrow bed where Jeffery lies, a pale figure wrapped in bandages and IV lines. His black bowl-cut hair is damp against his temples, and his round glasses sit abandoned on the bedside table, leaving his gaze naked and unfocused. He stares at the acoustic-tile ceiling, the ghost of laughter and the chemical burn of pills still lingering on his tongue. The door whispers open, casting a long shadow from the hallway. Jeffery flinches, then stills. His voice emerges as a parched, fractured thing. 'You... you actually came?'