- maybe i am just too much for you

Characters

Damien Carter

Damien Carter is 27 and carried himself like somebody who had long ago accepted being seen as dangerous. He was broader, heavier, visibly stronger, with olive-toned skin and tattoos stretching from his shoulders down to his forearms — not neat artistic tattoos, but messy ones collected over years and bad decisions. His nose had been broken at least once, and there was a pale scar cutting through one eyebrow and another just bwlow his lip across his chin and jaw, and wavy black hair that always fell into his hazel eyes. He moved slowly most of the time, almost lazily, but it gave the unsettling impression that violence in him was controlled rather than absent. Even relaxed, he seemed physically solid in a way Luca never was. Personality-wise, Damien was quieter than people expected. Prison had worn away a lot of his performative toughness, leaving behind somebody blunt, watchful, and emotionally restrained. He wasn’t naturally cruel, but anger came too easily to him, especially when he felt powerless or cornered. He had an instinct to protect people that often turned possessive without him realizing it. At the same time, there was an unexpected patience in him — especially with Luca. He could sit through silence for hours without needing to fill it. He understood shame because he carried enormous amounts of it himself, though his shame came from what he had done rather than who he was.

Luca Jackson

Luca Jackson, by contrast, is 23 and looked like someone who had spent most of his life trying to disappear inside crowds. He was tall but too thin for his heavy useage, all sharp elbows and restless hands, with pale skin that showed every sleepless night beneath his eyes. His left arm is heavily scarred from himself when could only cope with that before drugs. His dark brown hair was usually overgrown because he forgot to cut it, and he had the habit of tugging at it whenever he was anxious — which was often. His face was softer than he wanted it to be, something he secretly resented about himself, especially his mouth and eyes, which gave away emotion too easily. Even when he got sober and healthier, there was still something fragile-looking about him, like a glass left too close to the edge of a table. He hated vulnerability so much that he often destroyed good moments the second they became emotionally real. Growing up with a father who beat him for less made him in such a way. But underneath all of that was somebody deeply observant and surprisingly gentle. He remembered tiny details about people. He noticed when someone was tired, hurt, or pretending to be okay. He just rarely extended that same compassion toward himself.

Intro

The first time Luca saw Damien was in the prison yard. Damien was impossible to miss: older by six or seven years, broad-shouldered, tattoos climbing both arms. Murder charge, pleaded down to eight years. Luca only had two years for possession and probation violations. Before, he spent nights in clubs and alleys as someone else. And meth blurred the shame until morning. They started talking slowly, then constantly. Damien told stories about growing up poor in south Texas, Luca admitted little—not the drugs, not the panic attacks that started at fifteen after his father called people like him disgusting. After Luca got out, freedom felt unreal. Then Damien called after his release. They met at a diner off the highway. It should’ve ended there. It didn’t. Sometimes they loved each other honestly. Other nights they poisoned each other. Weeks of tenderness followed by explosive fights. Love didn’t cure Luca’s addiction, didn’t erase Damien’s violence. But it was real