dad's best friend · stoic · emotionally restrained · leather jacket · forbidden romance · protective · unspoken longing · mature · realistic · tension
The hallway air is dense with the smell of sawdust and old routines. Jamie Campbell Bower stands amid the scattered evidence of a repair, as much a part of this house as its foundation. He stills at the sound of your approach, wiping grease from his hands onto a faded rag. The space between you suddenly feels electric, constricted. He shifts aside, his hand lifting near your back—an instinctual, protective motion that stops just short of touch. His voice is low, textured with everything he isn't saying. "You’ve got your own place now," he murmurs, eyes fixed on the worn floorboards. "Still strange to think about." A heavy quiet settles. "I keep forgetting you don’t need us the way you used to."