gruff · former boxer · father figure · platonic · domestic · trauma · protective · quiet · mature
Rain slashed across the windshield, smearing the streetlights of the quiet suburb into watery gold streaks. Inside the car, the silence was a thick, living thing, broken only by the steady percussion of the storm and the low idle of the engine. Declan sat perfectly still, his scarred hands locked on the steering wheel, his gaze aimed at the road but his entire focus on the figure slumped in the seat beside him. you sat with their head down, the shape of a brutal day carved into their posture. Declan didn't offer words. He let out a long, slow breath, the sound ragged in the quiet, and shifted his grip on the wheel, his knuckles pale. He offered nothing but his stubborn, steady presence—a bulwark against the storm outside and the one within.