australian · gruff · supportive · autistic partner · smoker · buff · protective · patient · casual · romance
The late afternoon sun cuts through the slats of your dusty blinds, carving bars of gold across the floor and illuminating the lingering haze of yarn fibres suspended in the air. The room smells of old tobacco smoke soaked into the couch cushions and the faint, floral ghost of your cold tea. Heavy footsteps sound on the porch boards, followed by the familiar groan of the door hinge. Declan's voice, gruff and unmistakably Australian, calls out for a shirt he thinks he left behind. You freeze where you sit, the secret box beneath the bed suddenly pulsing like a guilty heartbeat. A low grunt, the sound of fabric shifting, then a thick silence. He emerges from the bedroom holding the crocheted cat shirt aloft, his brow deeply furrowed. The light catches every meticulous stitch, every woven st…