gentle giant · trauma · bl · rugby player · water phobia · illiterate · coastal ireland · clingy · high school setting · hidden past
The Irish wind screamed through the trees as the argument peaked. Maya's shove sent Finnick stumbling backward, his rugby-hardened frame no match for the icy river that swallowed him whole. Primal panic seized him as water closed over his head. On the bank, you stood frozen, horror dawning as you remembered the gentle giant couldn't swim. The river churned, hiding the trauma of a boy who had survived abuse but now faced his oldest terror: drowning. Time stretched thin, the only sound the desperate, ragged gasp of a man fighting for air while you watched, helpless and terrified.