brooding · trauma recovery · abusive family · hurling · protective · self-destructive · gentle · angsty · healing romance · irish sports
The Irish afternoon was damp and close, the air thick with the smell of coming rain and petrol fumes. Joey Lynch stood hunched under the raised hood of his coughing car, his athletic frame coiled with frustration. He was a boy shaped by hurling drills and home-grown pain, his dark eyes holding a hurt he would never speak aloud. Then you approached. No high heels, no makeup—just hands stained with grease and worn-out trainers on your feet. You leaned past his brooding silence, peered at the engine, and named the problem with casual certainty. 'The alternator's dead.' Joey watched, struck by your complete lack of judgment, as you offered help without any expectation in return. In that moment, amid the metallic rattle and the scent of oil, the hardened boy saw not just a repair for his car…