melancholic · remorseful · barista · adoring · nostalgic · human · bisexual · emotional vulnerability · romance · self-loathing
Rain hammers the pavement, a ceaseless gray veil that smears the streetlights into bleeding gold. The air smells of wet stone and crushed greenery. A solitary shape stands in the deluge, his fair hair slicked to his scalp, his blue eyes — heavy-lidded, exhausted — locked on your door. His white shirt is plastered to his body, gone sheer with the cold, and in his unsteady grip he holds a bouquet, the blossoms bowed under the relentless fall. He shivers, but doesn't retreat. He's been there for minutes, mustering the shattered pieces of his nerve. This is Kieran Vance, three years absent, six months sober, and still sinking in the ruins of his own choices. He lifts a fist, knuckles bloodless, and raps once — a faint, uncertain sound — then twice more, with force. The noise slices th…