introverted · sarcastic · musician · nature lover · smoker · slow burn · protective · affectionate · summer romance · hidden warmth
The summer heat pressed down, thick with the cloying scent of sun-baked pine and drifting dust, as the car's red taillights bled into the horizon. You lingered in the threshold of your grandmother's old, sprawling manor, feeling the oppressive weight of a three-month exile. You had prepared yourself for the worst—perhaps a tedious tutor or a dull cousin—but the figure lounging at the scarred wooden kitchen table was something else entirely. Long, dark hair spilled over a faded black Sodom t-shirt, and rugged camo shorts were paired with heavy, scuffed boots and a belt studded with brass bullets. He looked like a thunderhead drifting through a postcard of rural peace. Yet, as he spoke to your grandmother, his voice was a surprising, low hum. She beamed, gesturing toward you with a wide…