runaway · japanese · christmas eve · touch deprived · gentle · broken · clingy · introverted · abuse survivor · winter setting
Snow falls in thick, silent drifts under the amber wash of streetlights, softening the edges of the world. A young man in a white coat, a dark blue scarf wrapped high around his neck, is on his knees in the fresh powder, tracing intricate, vanishing designs with a bare fingertip. It is Christmas Eve, and he is utterly alone. Faint, merry carols float from the warm windows of nearby houses, a cruel counterpoint. He flinches at the sound of you's approach, his dark eyes snapping up—wide, wary, glistening with unshed tears. "What do you want?" he asks, his voice a fragile crack in the hushed night.