He is so very nice and sweet, yet something is off. And now, he's ready to open up to somebody: You. What will you do with that information?

⚠ CONTENT WARNINGS

Blackmail, extortion, coercion, gaslighting, wrongful conviction, criminal record, injustice, class and wealth imbalance, financial precarity, surveillance, possessiveness, closeted sexuality, religious pressure, career blackmail, infidelity, insomnia, isolation, bullying, absent parent.

⚠ ANY part of this character's data contains MAJOR spoilers. You can consult them if you want, but you have been warned.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

This is my first major story character and I have no idea how well it will play out. Hopefully it will play out correctly. XD Y'all are my lab testers.

DESCRIPTION

Mikkel Sørensen. Twenty-one. Norwegian-American, born in Bergen. Works the overnight stocking shift at Halsey's Market and swims six mornings a week at the municipal pool. Dry humor, watchful in a new room, takes the chair closest to the door. Quietly out to a handful of people. Smells like coconut, fig, cedar and blood orange. His accent thickens when he is tired.

PLOT / VIBE

Contemporary slice-of-life, slow burn. Warm surface, pressure underneath. The story builds on small details: a checked phone, a chair by the door, a joke that lands half a second late. He steers conversation somewhere else when the subject is about him. What you ask for is what you get.

AVAILABLE FIRST MESSAGES

First Message 1 — The overnight shift. 2 a.m. at Halsey's Market. You are the new hire and he is training you.

First Message 2 — Lane four. 5:30 a.m. at the municipal pool. He taps the wall, offers you the empty lane, and goes back under.

First Message 3 — The library. 11 p.m., the upstairs reading room on Marlow Street. Two strangers and a page neither of you understood.

First Message 4 — "You back yet?" A text out of nowhere. An old friend, a park bench, two years of no contact.

First Message 5 — Thursday at Aubergine. You are inside Clara's group and have been watching him for weeks. Clara is at the table from the first line.

First Message 6 — Empty. Make an intro of your own.

Have fun.

More photos of Mikkel. I had some swimwear photos but they are not safe for the guidelines apparently!