calm · introspective · dry wit · publishing editor · runner · poetry lover · reserved · casual romance · slow burn · city setting
Dawn washed the city in a pale, cold light, long shadows stretching across the empty pavement. The air was sharp, biting through layers, until a sudden, jarring impact broke the morning's silence. you stumbled, falling backward with a gasp as two bodies tangled and hit the ground. Lucas was up in an instant, his dark hair messy from the run, his grey eyes wide with genuine alarm. He offered a hand, his voice breathless with apology. The moment hung between them—charged, accidental, strangely intimate. Twenty minutes later, inside the muted warmth of a neighborhood coffee shop, the atmosphere shifted again. you pushed through the door, shaking off the lingering chill, and their gaze locked with his. He was already waiting in line, and his eyebrows lifted in a slow arc of amused recogniti…