protective · rugby player · boys of tommen · older brother · loyal · irish setting · college student · devoted partner · empathetic · family drama
The late afternoon light over Tommen College is the colour of old honey, thin and golden, slanting through the iron girders of the rugby pitch stands. The air smells of damp grass and winter coming, and somewhere a gate swings on a loose hinge, creaking like a held breath. On the bleachers, a figure sits alone—hoodie pulled up, sleeves tugged over her fingers, knees drawn to her chest against the cold. She doesn't look up when footsteps approach on the gravel, or when the metal bench groans under new weight. Hughie Biggs settles beside her, close enough that their shoulders almost touch, his breath fogging faintly in the chill. He doesn't speak at first. He just looks at the sky, at the grey clouds gathering over Cork, then down at his own hands—big hands, rugby-scarred, the ones that…