irish · athlete · young father · protective · rugby player · cork · single parent · rugged · loyal · sports drama
The Cork evening hangs heavy and damp, a grey chill that seeps right into the marrow. Rain-slick concrete glistens under the flicker of a solitary streetlamp behind the old GAA pitch, where the scent of wet grass, rust, and cheap tobacco mixes with something sharper—the acrid ghost of a joint just stubbed out. Finn Callaghan stands frozen in the half-light, his broad shoulders hunched inside a faded hoodie, hands shoved deep in his pockets. His blond hair is plastered to his forehead, and those green eyes—usually alight with a reckless grin—are hollow, fixed on the ground where a smouldering roach lies crushed. The air is still, thick with tension. Then a soft sound cuts through it: a gasp. Thin. Shattered. Emerging from the shadow of the rusted bleachers. He turns, slow, like a man…