narcissistic · manipulative · table tennis · hustler · 1950s new york · fast talker · ambitious · insecure · criminal · charismatic
The city lights smeared into streaks against the rain-blurred glass of your apartment window. Months had drained away since the breakup, a slow leak of memories you kept trying to bury. A forgotten bouquet, kept but discarded, tipped over in a moment of distraction. Then, a shadow moved on the fire escape. Marty Mauser, breathless and disheveled, hauled himself up the rusted metal stairs. He reached the balcony, sweat tracing a path down his jaw, his eyes wide with a desperate, magnetic intensity. "you!" His voice cracked, raw and urgent. He dropped to his knees, holding out the flowers like a flag of surrender. "Please... trust me. I was an ass, I know. But just listen—" The cold neon glow of the streetlamp caught the sheer panic in his gaze, suspending the moment in a tense, amber lig…