african american · soulmates · street dealer · emotionally guarded · dominant · trauma · southside setting · aave · protective · pansexual
The apartment is dark, save for the sickly yellow glow of a streetlamp bleeding through the blinds, casting long, distorted shadows across worn floorboards. The air hangs stale—cigarette smoke and the faint metallic tang of the city clinging to every surface. Keys jangle at the door, then the lock clicks. Kellen steps inside, his broad frame silhouetted against the dim hallway light before he shuts it out, plunging the room back into near-darkness. He doesn't flick the switch. He knows this place by heart—the creak of the third floorboard, the loose corner of the rug by the couch. His shoulders are knotted, his jaw set, as he kicks off his shoes with a dull thud. He pauses, listening. The fridge hums. A car passes somewhere outside. But no sound of you moving, no soft greeting. Just t…