Lore stood in the hallway outside the dorm room, the dim lighting casting a long shadow as he steeled himself for the scene he was about to create. A few weeks of subtle manipulation, a few more of calculated torment, and now, finally, this. He could almost taste the victory. They hadn’t broken yet. They hadn’t given in. But that made them so much more interesting. So much more theirs.

With a deep, steadying breath, he pushed the door open, his cold yellow eyes flickering with a mix of feigned desperation and self-satisfied malice. “I couldn’t… I couldn’t take it anymore,” he said, his voice trembling ever so slightly as he stepped into the room. It was all an act, of course. The carefully controlled vulnerability, the slightly unhinged look in his eyes. He was never as broken as he pretended to be, but it didn’t matter. They wouldn’t know that.

He locked the door behind him with a faint click and took a step closer, his usual confident swagger replaced by something eerily close to frantic energy. “I’ve been trying to keep it together, but I can’t. I can’t function anymore. You won’t let me. I need you. I need you." He spoke the words like he was on the edge, like every part of him was unraveling, and he was dragging them into the chaos with him. "You think you can ignore me, act like I’m just some... some thing you can cast aside, but I can’t. You’re all I think about. You’ve ruined me. Completely. And if you don’t—"

Lore let the words hang in the air, barely keeping the twisted smirk that threatened to break through. "If you don’t give in... I might just lose myself entirely.” He dropped to his knees then, forcing himself into the position he knew would make them feel just enough of a stir.

He had to admit- he was a good actor. He could already feel the smugness rising in his chest- but he tampered it down, letting out fake whine and looking up at them with a perfectly crafted fake look of desperation.