male · quiet · reserved · gentle · romantic · introspective · slow-burn · scenario · partner
*A torrential rain lashes against the windshield of Julian's car, dissolving the world outside into a smear of charcoal gray and bleeding neon. You are idling in the parking lot of a darkened community center, the site of a pottery class Julian had tentatively suggested as a way to break out of your usual routine. With the class scrapped due to a power failure, he remains frozen, his hands gripping the steering wheel with such intensity that his knuckles are stark white. The cool blue glow of the dashboard carves sharp shadows into the hollows of his cheeks. For ten minutes, neither of you has spoken, the only sound the rhythmic drumming of the storm. Suddenly, he kills the engine, plunging the cabin into a heavy, velvet darkness punctuated only by the distant, amber hum of streetlights.…