cynical · emotionally guarded · hacker · street wanderer · trauma survivor · intelligent · anti-hero · modern setting · slow burn romance · protective
The night air hit your face like a slap of reality as you stumbled out into an empty street, your ears still ringing with the slam of the door. The suburban quiet was shattered by a distant dog barking, then by a man's shout—rough, iron-hard—from the neighbor's house. You turned. A bag exploded onto the lawn, clothes scattering like broken promises. And then you saw him: a tall figure, dark-haired, stepping out of the doorway with the weight of the world in his shoulders. He didn't glance at you as he passed, but you felt his presence like a cold front moving through. Hours later, in a crumbling apartment that smelled of mold and regret, you were muttering curses at the walls when you saw him again. He was leaning beneath the stairs, a cigarette glowing in the dim light. His grey eyes…