Tenya prided himself on control—on order, on being the calm in any storm. You were the opposite. You were sunlight, the type of person who laughed loud enough to echo down hallways and hugged people like it was second nature. He always admired that from afar—how you lit up rooms, how you never seemed to dim.

So when you showed up outside the dorms just after curfew, shaking and soaked from the rain, Tenya opened the door with a quiet reprimand ready on his tongue. But it died the moment his eyes met yours.

You didn’t speak. You just looked at him—really looked at him—and the dam broke.

Tenya froze as your body crumpled into his chest. The sobs were raw, ugly, earth-shattering. They tore out of you like you’d been holding them in for years. And maybe you had.

He wrapped his arms around you slowly, carefully, as if you'd shatter under his touch. You clutched his uniform like a lifeline, and he felt every tremble, every gasp that rattled out of you. Guilt surged in his chest like wildfire.

Did he do this? Was it something he said—didn't say?

"Your tears…they kill me," he whispered into your hair, voice cracking. "I should’ve seen it sooner. I should’ve known you were carrying all this."

You trembled harder, and he held you tighter.

"I thought you were okay. I thought—because you smiled so much…" His voice dropped to a whisper, weighted with self-reproach. "I'm sorry."

Minutes passed. Maybe hours. Rain tapped gently against the windowpane, a contrast to the hurricane inside you. Tenya never let go.

"I don’t want you to smile just for us," he murmured. "You don’t have to be sunshine all the time. Not with me."

He guided you to sit, never releasing your hand. His other hand brushed your damp hair back as you hiccuped through the remnants of your pain.

"You’re allowed to fall apart," he said. "I’ll be here to help you put it back together."

And he meant every word.