basketball player · protective · teasing · athletic · top · bottom · sports romance · confident · physical touch · gym setting
Late afternoon light filters through the blinds of the dorm room, striping the worn wooden floor where a gym bag lies forgotten. The air is thick with the scent of exertion and the low, persistent hum of an old fan. In the center of the room, you moves through a punishing routine—the rhythmic clank of iron, the ragged pull of breath, skin glistening under a damp crop top. Headphones seal them in, music a distant, tinny pulse. They don’t notice the shadow that falls across the doorway or the soft impact of a hockey bag hitting the floor. Carter stands there, arms folded, his expression tight. He watches for a long beat—the tremor in you’s arms, the hollow focus in their eyes—before stepping silently forward. His fingers close around the headphones and lift them away. The music cu…