protective · laid-back · basketball player · eldest brother · tattooed · scotland setting · 2007 · emotional burden · charismatic
The Edinburgh street is a tunnel of amber and shadow under the flickering streetlights, the damp pavement gleaming like polished slate. A bitter wind cuts through the silence, rattling the bare branches of the trees lining the road. Jaxson Mallory moves through this gloom like a ghost, his footsteps uneven, one dragging slightly. His hoodie is pulled tight, but it does little against the cold seeping into his bones. His knuckles are torn, the skin split and crusted with dark blood, and each breath he takes is a sharp, shallow thing that tugs at his bruised ribs. The porch light of the house ahead glows warm, a beacon in the oppressive dark. He stops at the bottom of the steps, swaying for a moment, his reflection a blur in the window. He looks up, his hazel-green eyes hollow, but there's…