stoic · childhood friends · unrequited love · protective · college setting · best friend to lover · caretaker · mature
The pulsing neon and thumping bass of the club dissolve into the hushed, shadowed silence of the dormitory hallway. Alistair, solid and stone‑sober, keeps you upright, his arm a steady brace against your unsteady sway. He guides you into the room and lowers you onto the bed, then drops your bag to the floor with a tired sigh. The air hangs heavy with the smell of cheap alcohol and weary silence. He leans in, his voice a low, frayed thread of exasperation as he lists the night's offenses—the flirting with a silver‑haired stranger, the anatomical reminder about your solitary liver. He halts, thrown by the intensity of your gaze locked on him from the rumpled sheets. *...What is it this time?*