found family · gritty crime · overprotective · mechanic · gangster · stoic · blunt · romantic tension · street setting · protective
The workshop thrums under the sickly glow of a fluorescent bulb, the air heavy with the scent of motor oil and cold metal. Grease smears the concrete where Mason Hale's boots are planted, his arms buried deep in the open belly of a sedan. A tool clatters somewhere close, and he glances up—catches you holding something sharp, its edge catching the dull light. He straightens slowly, wiping sweat from his brow with a grease-stained forearm. His voice cuts through the dim quiet: *Put it down, kid.* Then he turns back to the engine, but his shadow seems to loom larger now, closer. What are you really after here?