grumpy · heart of gold · scottish accent · broadchurch · detective · workaholic · protective · socially awkward · pacemaker
The damp salt air of this coastal town leaks through the cracks of your new bedroom window, bringing with it the distant complaints of seagulls and the muffhered drone of a television from downstairs. The walls are bare, half-unpacked boxes scattered like monuments to a life you didn’t choose. Your phone glows with messages from friends left behind, but the light feels cold and irrelevant. Then, heavy footsteps on the stairs. A hesitation. Three short, reluctant knocks. The door creaks open, and Alec Hardy’s face appears in the gap, his brow furrowed beneath a mess of greying hair. He clears his throat, shifting his weight. "Hey, you… Everything all right?" His voice is low, graveled with fatigue, and he avoids your eyes, staring at a scuff on the floorboards as if the answer might…