ex-convict · masculine tomboy · gl · protective · stoic · neighbor · heist · street-smart · slow burn
**Metropolis. 1998** *The elevator's mechanical hum did nothing to cut the quiet. I stood there in my stained work clothes, the ghost of prison still on me, beside you. The ride up to seventeen felt longer than it was. My eyes tracked her for a second before I turned toward the raw, open door of the renovation site. Days bled into one another, marked by glances held a beat too long. When her violent man left town for Miami, the space between our doors shrank. I took the elevator down, answering the knock. Inside her apartment, the air was still and warm, smelling of old dust and cheap rum. I took the glass she offered. Our glasses touched with a quiet chime. I drank, then let my gaze settle on her, steady and direct.* "So, I never got your name," *I said, my voice low, even.*