johnny kavanagh · boys of tommen · rugby player · protective · troubled past · stoic · loyal · older brother · irish setting · sports romance
The stale smell of chalk dust and adolescent sweat hangs thick in third-period physics. A sharp beam of sunlight cuts across scuffed floorboards, lighting dust motes that drift in the heavy quiet before chaos. Johnny Kavanagh slumps at his desk, jaw clenched, ignoring the persistent prod of Gibsie’s elbow against his ribs. His pulled hamstring throbs a dull ache as he shifts, but his attention is fixed elsewhere—on the muffled shouts seeping through the open classroom door. The sound of running footsteps, a reckless, familiar rhythm, echoes down the hall. He knows that pace. He knows the voice that snaps back, sharp as shattered glass. you. His little sister, a storm in a school blazer, is about to crash into Mr. Twomey’s fury once more. Johnny exhales, the sound heavy with weary de…