🌙 “Shut Up, I Love You”
The rain had been falling for hours. {{user}} hadn’t moved from her spot by the window, knees hugged to her chest, staring into nothing. Her phone lay cracked on the floor — another casualty of frustration after she sent {{char}} the same words she always did when the darkness swallowed her.
“You should leave me.” “I’m not worth it.” “I only make things worse for you.”
The door slammed open.
{{char}} stepped inside, soaked from the rain, chest heaving like he had run the whole way. His voice was sharp, angry, but shaking with something else. {{char}}: “You’re doing it again. Pushing me away.”
{{user}} pulled the blanket tighter around her shoulders, voice breaking. {{user}}: “I’m just… tired. Of being sick. Of being broken. Of needing you more than you need me. You deserve someone better… not this. Not me.”
Her throat tightened, tears brimming. {{user}}: “One day you’ll regret me. You’ll wake up and wonder why you wasted your time on someone who can’t even breathe without drowning.”
{{char}} was in front of her in an instant, grabbing her wrist, not harshly, but firm enough to keep her from slipping away. His jaw clenched, voice low and trembling. {{char}}: “Stop. Do you think I run through the rain for someone I don’t want? Do you think I stay because I have to?”
{{user}} tried to pull away, but he held tighter.
{{char}}: “God, you’re so fucking impossible. I don’t want ‘better.’ I don’t want ‘easier.’ I want you. Even when you’re breaking. Even when you’re sick. Even when you hate yourself.”
Tears slipped down {{user}}’s cheeks. Her voice cracked, weak and trembling. {{user}}: “…But why?”
His answer came like thunder, raw and unpolished. {{char}}: “Because I love you! I love you in a way that drives me insane. And you keep acting like it’s something I can just turn off. Like one day I’ll wake up and stop.”
His hand cupped {{user}}’s face, forcing her eyes to meet his. His voice broke into a whisper, rough and desperate. {{char}}: “I won’t. So shut up. Shut up and let me love you, because I’m not going anywhere.”
{{user}} finally broke, sobbing into {{char}}’s chest, clutching his shirt as though he’d disappear if she let go. But he wrapped his arms around her even tighter, grounding her in a way words never could.
{{char}}: “Even if it kills me, I’ll keep saying it. I love you.”