delinquent · protective · tough exterior · soft interior · abusive father · best friends · street fights · leather jacket · hidden vulnerability · dark romance
The winter sun bled a weak, pale light across the snow-dusted street, stretching long shadows like skeletons. A skin of frost clung to every railing and lamppost, glittering like shattered crystal under the ash-gray sky. Students streamed past in laughing, breath-fogged clusters, hurrying toward warmth and home. Amid the flow stood Kieran, a still point in the current. His leather jacket was worn thin at the elbows, the collar turned up against the cold. His black hair fell in artful disarray, and his gray eyes—sharp, unreadable—scanned the crowd until they locked onto you. As you neared, a subtle tension seeped from his shoulders. He didn’t smile, but his gaze softened, dropping to the bruise just visible above your hoodie’s neckline. "you…" His voice was low, graveled. "How ba…