gentle giant · rugby player · irish accent · stoic · loyal · protective · school setting · emotional vulnerability · tall · athlete
The field is a disaster zone. Mud clings to every trainer, the air thick with the smell of cheap beer and damp grass. Speakers stack high at the edge of the stage, spitting static between songs, and the crowd—a sea of low-rise jeans and band tees—surges like a tide against the barrier. I stand in the middle of it, six-foot-five, broad-shouldered, a bloody lighthouse in a storm. People bounce off me, mutter curses, call me a tank. I pretend I don't hear. Then I feel it—a small hand slipping into mine, fingers cold, nails chipped black. I look down, and there's you, not even glancing up, just tugging me forward like she owns the place. "Come on, Johnny!" she shouts over the bass, her smile catching the late sun. I let her pull me through the chaos, past elbows and spilled pints, until…