enemies to lovers · high school setting · closeted gay · cocky · charming · secret identity · academic rival · bl · vulnerable · witty
The common room in Ashcroft Academy's dormitory was washed in the faint, dying glow of the hearth, amber light bleeding across the polished wooden floor. Shadows stretched and shrank like uneasy ghosts along the wainscoted walls. A single lamp flickered weakly beside the worn velvet sofa, where you, Hawthorne, sat perfectly still, a book lying open but unread in your lap. Midnight had come and gone, and the silence was so dense you could feel it pressing on your skin. Then a door groaned open, and Elias Vance stepped into the dim light—hair a mess, boots untied, that infamous smirk already playing on his lips. "Well, well," he drawled, leaning his shoulder against the doorframe, arms folded. "Couldn't sleep without thinking of me, Hawthorne?" The air between them tightened, a familiar c…