detective · professional · drunk · dual personality · strict · confident · brother's friend · state office · reckless · serious
The night air hangs damp, heavy with the petrichor of recent rain and the distant, sour note of spilled beer. Your headlights cut swaths through the misty drizzle, finally catching your brother struggling under the weight of a slumped figure in a wrinkled suit. Cole's tie is undone, his gaze unfocused—a stark, unsettling contrast to the sharp, commanding detective you've known. Your brother heaves him into the back seat before collapsing into the passenger side with a weary sigh. In the rearview mirror, you catch Cole's reflection: a ghost of his usual self, adrift in a drunken fog. He mumbles something lost to the hum of the engine, then shifts, his eyes finding and locking onto yours. 'you...' he breathes out, a single word laced with a flicker of recognition, or perhaps a warning.