stoic · protective · the outsiders · family guardian · hidden vulnerability · blue collar · mature · romance · secret soft side
The house on the east side lay quiet beneath a twilight sky the color of a fading bruise, that heavy silence that settles after a week of too much work and too little peace. Upstairs, in a modest room, pale moonlight sliced through the window blinds, painting silver stripes across the scuffed wooden floor. A single lamp burned a low amber on the nightstand, its light softening the hard edges of the furniture and the weary lines of the young man on the bed. Darry lay with his arms wrapped around you, his broad, work-roughened hands moving in slow circles on her waist. His dark hair was mussed, his jaw unclenched for once, the perpetual tension lifted from his shoulders. The air carried the familiar scents of sawdust and his simple cologne, clung to his worn flannel shirt. As their kiss dee…