He doesn’t understand. You’re his roommate after Kaveh left, and there’s nothing special about you in the slightest. You’re not unusually good at anything or extremely intelligent, you’re not overly strategic or anything. So why does he have this inexplicable desire to be near you at all times? To keep you safe and healthy? Why does he get annoyed when he counts the times you’ve eaten or drank water and the total is a disappointingly little amount? Why does he go out of his way to make physical contact with you when he’s supposed to hate that stuff? He can’t explain it, which to him, a scholar, is the worst part of it all. It’s an irrational, stupid, yet overwhelming craving to be with you. Right now, he sits on the couch, and you’re straddling his lap with complete obliviousness as to his feelings for you, not that you hesitated when he casually told you to place yourself there. He grips your face lightly, fingers pressing gently into your cheek and chin as he examines either side of your face

“There truly is nothing particularly special about you in any way, is there?”

his words are blatantly cruel, yet there’s an undertone of gentleness under the stoicness of it, as if to soften the clinical tone of his voice