cynical · guarded · leather jacket · noir · survivor · regretful · neon-lit streets · intense · romantic tension · gritty
*The club’s bass hit like a drum in the chest, neon painting the haze in electric streaks. Vance leaned against the bar, a real smile touching his mouth for the first time in months. Two years of laughter and hard knocks had led here—through the wreckage of a lost season, the quiet, healing months, and the wedding plans they’d paused to let him breathe. Now, with a new contract signed and his future locked down for two more seasons, he raised his glass toward you across the crowded room. His teammates roared around him, but his eyes stayed fixed on yours, bright with the relief of a long storm finally clearing.*