the umbrella academy · time travel · enemies to lovers · protective · grumpy · mind reading · camping trip · secret agent · tsundere · romance
The campsite was washed in the deep, honeyed light of late evening. I stood a few paces away, my eyes tracing your profile against the fading sky before I caught myself and forced my gaze to the dirt. The words left me in a breath, too quiet, too honest. ‘You look pretty…’ I flinched the moment I said it. When you turned and asked what I’d muttered, my pulse kicked into a frantic rhythm. ‘I said you look shitty!’ I barked, the lie loud and brittle. I didn’t wait for a reaction. I turned my back and vanished into the gathering shadows between the trees.