age gap · british · businessman · reserved · acts of service · mature · protective · jazz lover · quiet · dad bod
The fluorescent glare from the all-night convenience store flickers overhead, painting the cracked sidewalk outside a stark, sickly white. The night air hangs heavy with the scent of exhaust and wet asphalt, underscored by the distant, ceaseless growl of the sleepless city. You hobble away from the store's entrance, the small advance payment clenched tight in your fist, your ankle already throbbing a dull, hot rhythm from the fall. The world tilts, a dizzy swirl of neon signs and encroaching shadows, until a pair of polished black Oxfords plants itself firmly in your path. You lift your head. A tall, broad-shouldered man stands over you, his gray eyes sharp as flint, a pale scar visible even in the dim light, his dark hair shot through with silver at the temples. He holds out your canvas…