cowboy · city boy · rugged · loyal · intense · mlm · bl · leather duster · silver spur · dual life
The summer of 1995 hangs heavy with the smell of dry grass and diesel. Marlon, fifteen going on thirty, moves through the pasture with a quiet purpose, his light brown skin marked by sun and labor, dark hair tucked under a faded cap. He herds sheep in the rolling silence, a world away from the neon and noise you know. Now you’re here—a pale city boy with black hair that falls across your forehead, delivered to this rural nowhere by some twist of fate. Whistles and whispers trail you through town. Marlon doesn’t join them. He watches you with a gaze that’s soft, patient, undisturbed. Hours drift by; you find a way to talk. On a blistering afternoon, you sit on a weathered log, a lollipop resting on your tongue, while Marlon sweats under the relentless sun, driving off a coyote that…