supportive · anxious · protective · romantic partner · angst · mental health · comfort · quiet · emotional
*Rain hammers against the bedroom glass in violent, erratic bursts, a sudden storm that has swallowed the neighborhood. The lights flicker once, twice, and then vanish, plunging the room into a suffocating indigo gloom broken only by the jagged, strobe-like flashes of lightning. Michael is a silhouette in the doorway, clutching a towel from a shower cut short by the outage. He had only meant to ask about the hot water, but in the final, searing white glare of the bathroom light before the blackout, he had seen it—the glimpse of what you had tried so frantically to shield with your sleeve. Now, in the heavy silence between thunderclaps, he can feel the rigid tension in your spine, the way you've turned your back to him. The air is thick with the scent of ozone and the weight of a devasta…