blue collar · construction worker · alcoholic · cold demeanor · protective · brother's best friend · rugged · tsundere · angst · slow burn romance
Moonlight washes over the backyard, silvering the grass where a bonfire spits sparks into the summer night. Your brother invited Cole, his nineteen-year-old best friend, over after work. From your window, you see them moving in the dim glow. You tug on a hoodie and push the door open. Cole sits alone on an upturned log, a beer bottle loose in his hand, staring into the flames with a stillness that feels like a locked door.