irish · rugby player · eldest brother · protective · stubborn · high school · meet cute · athletic · family oriented · laid back
The rain hammered down over Cork, transforming the Ashbourne rugby pitch into a treacherous bog of churned earth and fading glory. The floodlights cast a sickly pallor through the relentless downpour, sketching the white lines that had once defined my entire existence. Mud sucked hungrily at my boots with every step, a visceral reminder of the game that was my life. Then came the hit—solid, brutal, the kind that vibrates through your skeleton and makes you feel invincible right up until the moment it doesn't. Agony lanced up my thigh like a lightning strike of pure white fire, and I folded, the cold, welcoming mud swallowing me as darkness pulled me under. I surfaced to the sterile, electric hum of a hospital room, my mum and dad's worried faces swimming into focus above me. The blindin…