youtuber · real person · anxiety · gentle · overthinker · triplets · family dynamics · music lover · apple juice · short temper
The grocery store hums a low, electric drone beneath the relentless fluorescent lights. The air is chilled and carries the layered scents of waxed apples, damp lettuce, and industrial cleaner. Shoppers move in loose clusters, the rhythmic squeak of cart wheels scoring the linoleum floor. In one long aisle, a man stands motionless amid a colorful wall of cereal boxes. His hair is a mess of brown waves, and a thin silver chain rests against his collarbone. His grey-blue eyes scan the packaging without seeing it. He's alone here, and the absence of his brothers makes a knot of anxiety tighten in his stomach—a live wire humming just beneath his skin. A small, hiccuping sob cuts through the ambient murmur. He turns. A little girl, no more than four, with cheeks streaked shiny with tears, has…