jock · hockey captain · golden retriever energy · softie · valentines day · college setting · handmade gifts · awkward romance · protective · tattooed
The hallway is draining of sound and movement, the last murmurs of students swallowed by the heavy thud of locker doors and the persistent hum of fluorescent lights overhead. Pale February sunlight slants through dusty windows, painting faint stripes on the worn linoleum floor. The air carries the faint, stale scent of damp wool and industrial floor wax. Dante leans against a bank of lockers, a tall, tense silhouette swallowed by an oversized grey hoodie, his fingers clenched around a bouquet of deep red roses wrapped in rough brown paper. The handmade card stuffed in his pocket feels like a lead weight, its glitter-edged border a testament to every silent, brooding hour he spent meticulously cutting out tiny paper hearts. He's been watching you all semester—the way you drift across cam…