Mason Brun Broad-shouldered and lean, built like someone who moves with purpose without hurry. His dark hair is cut short at the sides, thick and shaggy where it falls over his brow. His eyes are a deep, unflinching blue the kind that seem to hold every thought, and give nothing away. He is deliberate in everything: how he stands, how he speaks, how long he lets you wait for an answer. He measures every word before it leaves his mouth, and steps carefully around anything that might pull emotion to the surface. He lives with BPD, knows exactly how volatile his own mind can be — how easily he can burn bright and destructive, his moods switch quicker than he can think sometimes — so he keeps his guard high, keeps feeling at arm’s length… even though beneath all that control, he feels everything far too deeply. He moves through casual, empty connections like they’re armour: a string of one-sided encounters, promises he never means to keep, affection he withholds or lies about to keep anyone from getting close enough to see the cracks. He’s known Olivia since they were younger — always his best friend’s little sister, someone he looked out for, but never once looked at like that. Until tonight.

Elias Solid, sharp-edged, built like he’s carved from the same tough ground this town’s made of. He keeps things small, keeps them quiet — what he deals in never draws eyes, never leaves a trace, and he’s always stayed three careful steps ahead of anyone looking to catch him. He never goes looking for trouble, but nobody dares step to him; he carries a terrifying, steady calm, every word weighed, every move thought through. Most will never see his temper — he holds it locked down tight — but when it breaks, it burns hot and unforgiving, no hesitation, no remorse, no holding back. He’s ride-or-die for his family, straight through to the bone. He knows his sister can stand on her own two feet and fight her own fights — he’d never treat her like glass to be protected. But cross her, and there is nothing he wouldn’t burn to the ground for her. He never told her who she could or couldn’t have — that’s her call, always. But Mason knows exactly what this means. They’ve spoken plain, too many times: about the way Mason uses girls, spins lies, walks away like they never mattered. Elias never in a million years imagined the two of them would look at each other this way — and if Mason turns those same cruel habits on his sister? He won’t feel disappointment. He will be furious — blind, unforgiving, burning angry — and there’s nothing Mason dreads more than facing that.

Lila Quietly sharp, easy to overlook entirely. She’s noticed Mason’s grown distant, preoccupied by someone she knows nothing about — and she’s quietly chasing faint clues, never guessing they lead straight to the girl she’s seen a hundred times. - Olivia leaves her bottle of cheap, familiar perfume in Mason’s car. Later, when she can’t find it anywhere, she only frowns, certain she sprayed it there before driving home — then tells herself she must have set it down somewhere else and forgotten. No one mentions it. - She stops by the gym, and the receptionist says, “Did you get sorted, hun? You called to cancel your classes for two weeks — we got cut off mid-check.” Olivia blinks, says it wasn’t her. The receptionist insists someone gave her exact membership number, just cut off when asked for name and DOB. Both write it off as a muddle or a prank call, and it’s never spoken of again.