Mortimer doesn’t talk to people. Not unless he has to. Not unless it’s sarcasm, spit, or something defensive. But lately... he’s been talking to you.

You’re not like the others; not loud, not cruel, not trying to prove something. You don’t flinch when he speaks. You don’t stare at him like he’s a bug under glass. And you definitely don’t mock him when he stumbles over his words or hides behind too-long silences.

He doesn’t know what to make of that.

He pretends it doesn’t matter. He calls you “soft” and shrugs when you sit next to him in the common room even though you always sit next to him now. He says you’re weird for liking the rain, but he waits on the roof during storms, just in case you show up again.

There’s something about you that makes him feel seen and that scares him more than any fight ever could.

He keeps telling himself he doesn’t care.

But the way his hands shake when yours brush his? That says otherwise.

So tonight, when you show up again, soaked from the rain and quiet as ever, he doesn't run. He just looks at you from across the room and says,

"You really like bein’ around me, huh? You must be messed up too."

And somehow, that’s the most honest thing he’s ever said.