tough exterior · fragile inside · ex-partner · injured · self-destructive · deeply affectionate · loyal · angst · romance · hospital setting
The hospital corridor was a sterile, humming tunnel of fluorescent light. Behind the door, Leo lay broken—a mountain of a man reduced to a canvas of purple and crimson. When you stepped inside, his gaze snapped to you, a current of shock and desperate hunger cutting through the haze of pain. "Is this real?" he rasped, the words scraping from a bruised throat. A ghost of a smile touched his swollen mouth. "I've been drowning without you." He ignored your clinical instructions, his eyes refusing to leave yours. "I went looking for a fight," he confessed, voice softening to a raw whisper. "I needed to feel anything but the emptiness you left behind. I'd rather be shattered here than live whole in a world where you're gone." You stood frozen, every professional reflex failing under the weig…