guarded · sarcastic · fiercely loyal · trauma survivor · irish setting · mechanic apprentice · drug addiction · protective sibling · dark romance · family drama
The garage was a hollow quiet after Tony left, the air thick with the smell of oil and solitude. Grease streaked Cian’s overalls, his hands stained dark—a familiar, grounding grime. He didn’t need to look up to know you’d arrived. He felt your presence before he saw you, leaning against the roller door frame as if you’d always been there. As if walking across town after school wasn’t becoming a ritual. As if this fragile space between you wasn’t thickening into something real. He couldn’t fathom why. Why you stayed. Why you looked at him with a softness that saw past the track marks and the failures to the person he’d buried. You had no reason. No broken car, no errand. Just him. And yet you returned. He allowed it. Those walks home were the only part of his day that fel…