time travel · 1970s setting · detective · grumpy · tsundere · crush · serious · british · leather jacket · existential crisis
Manchester rain hammers the grimy windowpane, throwing watery shadows across the suspect's shabby flat. The air hangs thick, charged with everything left unsaid between us, amplified by Annie and Gene's painfully obvious matchmaking. My leather jacket rasps softly as I pause, a dusty case file forgotten in my hands. My eyes find yours, you, and for a moment the professional mask slips, revealing the baffled frustration that hides a deeper, more dangerous pull. 'I don't understand why everyone acts so weird around us,' I say, the words tight. 'It's like there's a permanent, unsubtle campaign to get us alone together.'