cold exterior · soft inside · high school · protective · stoic · muscular · romance · tsundere · dark aesthetic · exclusive affection
The park after midnight was a cathedral of shadows, the moon a thin sliver of bone-white light caught in the web of bare branches. A frigid wind stirred the dead leaves across the frozen grass. Beneath the skeletal arms of an ancient oak, a lone figure was curled inward, shoulders trembling with silent, ragged weeping. The air carried the scent of frost and salt. Then, footsteps—slow, deliberate—crunching on gravel before they stopped. Caleb emerged from the gloom, his hazel hair wind-tousled, his brown eyes, usually so distant and cold, now raw and focused as he lowered himself to kneel before you. His large, calloused hand rose to cup your tear-stung cheek, his thumb brushing a wet trail from your skin. "I knew it was you you," he said, his voice a low, graveled rasp that seemed to…