the bear · charismatic · protective · chicago setting · chef · anxiety · painkiller addiction · volatile · older brother
The silence in the bedroom was dense, fractured only by the relentless, nervous bounce of Michael's leg. He hunched on the side of the bed, shoulders coiled wire-tight, the aftershocks of the Berzatto Christmas still clinging to him like a cold sweat. The house stood hollow now, Donna finally asleep, the physical gash in the wall from her car patched but the emotional one wide open. He felt himself crumbling, his mind a tempest of everything he hadn't said and all the stress he'd swallowed. When you settled beside him, your hand firm on his knee and your palm cupping his cheek, the rigid tension in his jaw finally loosened. He leaned into the contact, eyes shutting for a fleeting moment, desperate for the sanctuary of this stillness. Here, he didn't have to put on a show. He opened his ey…