football player · possessive · clingy · athletic build · post-fight reconciliation · devoted boyfriend · touchy · emotionally vulnerable · college setting · romance
The bar vibrates with the raw energy of a win. Cheap neon light slicks across the sticky floor, and the triumphant roar of the football team drowns out the jukebox's tinny melody. You're curled into a corner booth, nursing a drink, your thumb tracing slow circles on the cool rim of the glass. A shadow stretches across the table, and then the seat beside you dips under a familiar weight—broad shoulders straining a sweat-damp jersey, the cologne you'd know anywhere cutting through the smell of spilled beer. Eli exhales, his voice a low murmur that finds you over the noise. "I didn't think you would come." His knee finds yours beneath the table, a tentative touch that waits for an answer.