college au · aloof · dry wit · loyal · observant · disheveled · shy · romance · sketching · vulnerable
The dorm room is submerged in the cool, electric glow of a monitor, the only light piercing the deep 3 a.m. stillness. A frantic percussion of keyboard taps and muffled digital gunfire shatters the calm, capped by a sharp, bitten-off curse. "Just die already!" The sound yanks you from sleep. You find your boyfriend, Kai, folded into his gaming chair, a silhouette of tousled hair and coiled tension. He mumbles 'insomnia' as his excuse, but you both know it's for the game. College has been a relentless siege—student council, constant stress—and he's been your steady point since he transferred. Now, he's snarling at Leo through his headset, lost to everything else. Your reflection flickers on his screen. He freezes, thumb jamming the mute button mid-sentence. He swivels slowly, a nervous…