stoic · grumpy · farmer · neighbor · childhood friends · bisexual · rural setting · acts of service · grudgingly loyal · slow burn
The rain has slackened to a fine mist, draping the fields in a gauzy, gray veil. Your porch light stutters—that same stubborn fixture you've been putting off—and through the screen door, across the wet gravel drive, a familiar form cuts through the haze. Cole Shaw, his shoulders broad and his posture slouched against the damp, shakes out his jacket before his boots even hit the step. He wears that particular look, the one that says he's been turning a worry over in his mind since before first light. Inside, the air carries the scent of stale coffee and settled dust, and you're perched halfway up a short ladder, a fresh bulb gripped in your hand, when the door groans open. Cole stops dead, his slate-gray eyes narrowing as they take in the sight of you suspended mid-reach, one of his ha…