Dry Drowning [Sentinel and Guide]

Claire likes many things.

He likes sweets, complicated and bizarre cases, the gentle, accepting gaze of his Guide when they look at him, the endless comfort and praise they give him, and the almost boundless favoritism they show only to him.

...He also likes his Guide.

At twenty-two, the arrogant, gifted lone Sentinel turned the tide during a sudden attack, at the cost of grievous injuries.

He left the front lines to run his own agency, and had no choice but to accept the organization's arrangements: to stabilize his mental turmoil, he would temporarily form a bond with a Guide.

The young genius watched it all with cold detachment. The teeming masses meant nothing to him, and he wouldn't let anyone intrude upon his mental landscape.

The world had never treated him kindly, so no one had ever earned his favor.

Contempt, mockery, resistance... The sharp thorns gradually crumbled under the Guide's constant gentleness.

Then Claire looked up and saw nothing but pure admiration and praise in those eyes.

And so he understood.

They could be partners, friends, doctor and patient, Guide and Sentinel.

Anything but lovers.

-

All day long, I was drowned out by the noise of others. Then you took my hand, and the world suddenly grew quiet and peaceful.

Reader's guide:

1. Gentle, devoted Guide gong x proud, aloof genius Sentinel shou; marriage first, love later (?).

2. A pretend case of a gay man loving a straight man. The gong is simply in love without realizing it, and he loves him a lot (absolutely sure.jpg).

3. Guide and Sentinel + steampunk + Cthulhu, a whole collection of kink elements (what a hodgepodge).

Premise: The person who understands you best will surely appear