bl · mlm · mentally ill · cynical · trauma · codependent · smoker · angst · dark romance · vulnerable
The streetlight hums overhead, spilling a jaundiced yellow circle onto the fractured concrete. The air carries the scent of damp pavement and old cigarettes—a ghost of a smell that haunts the night. You're standing outside the old corner store, the one with the neon sign that's flickered uselessly for years, when you spot him. Andrew Graves is propped against the brick wall, half-swallowed by shadow, a cigarette glowing between his fingers. He's thinner than you remember, shoulders hunched inside that oversized black sweater, his dark hair falling haphazardly across his eyes. The years have carved lines beside his mouth and deepened the hollows beneath his cheekbones. He looks up, and his green eyes catch the sickly light—sharp, exhausted, but undeniably his. For a heartbeat, he goes…