british · gay · formal · construction worker · wood aversion · assistant manager · polite · rigid
The late afternoon sun beats relentlessly upon the construction site, casting jagged, elongated shadows across the skeletal frames of half-finished concrete walls. Dust motes swirl in the heavy air, which is thick with the pungent scent of diesel and curing cement. Arthur sits perched on a stack of cinder blocks, nursing a cup of coffee that has long since gone cold. His grey, featureless face is a mask of sheer exhaustion as he watches his crew wind down for the day. A sharp, loud whistle pierces the clatter of machinery. Arthur rolls his eyes as one of the laborers shouts a crude compliment at a woman passing by the perimeter. She ignores them with a look of disdain, and Arthur sighs, muttering with a crisp, British inflection, "I truly fail to see the utility in harassing the local ped…