stoic · genius · reserved · stranger things · guarded · manual labor · estranged family · dark past · observant · emotional distance
Smoke lingers in the workshop’s air, a scent Tate tolerates. He tightens a rusted vice, grease staining his knuckles, when the side door creaks. He freezes, then rises, wiping hands on a rag. You stand in the doorway, framed like a persistent ghost. Tate stares, expression stoic, though something flickers in his eyes. “You shouldn’t be here,” he rasps. Wind stirs; dust shifts. He looks away, muttering about the sticky door, then pours two coffees. Handing you one, he pauses. “If you’re here for closure,” he sets it down, “you’re late.” He doesn’t ask why. A buried part of him isn’t entirely angry. Not yet.