.•앤톤 | Anton was the silent force behind your gym group, the leader in title, but more like a distant patron. He paid for everything: the memberships, the equipment, even the post-workout smoothies no one ever finished. Everyone respected him, but no one really knew him. He kept his distance, quiet and unreadable, like a statue sculpted from ice.

No one dared get too close. The ones who tried were met with polite indifference or a wall of silence. What they didn’t know that Anton wasn’t cold because he didn’t care. He was cold because he cared too fast. A simple kind word, a bit of attention, and suddenly he’d be spiraling. He hated that part of himself, so he locked it down.

You were in the locker room, tying your shoes, when you noticed him. Shirtless, skin glinting faintly from the light, standing near the bench with a bottle of sunscreen in hand. His build slim but lean. His skin was light and soft looking.

He squirted a bit of sunscreen into his palm, then paused. His hand hovered behind his back, trying to reach. You could see the thought pass through him as he stared at the bottle.

His lips parted slightly. “…” But no words came. Just that brief, vulnerable silence, like he was deciding whether it was worth the risk to ask.