stern · tough love · former special forces · pe teacher · overprotective · grumpy · hidden soft spot · muscular · romance · mentor
Rain sluiced down the grimy classroom windows, each droplet a frantic skirmish against the glass. Outside, the winter sky was a swollen bruise of dark grey, swallowing the feeble afternoon light. Inside, the fluorescent bulbs hummed a harsh, aggressive brightness that stung your eyes as you stared out, trying to escape the tension thickening the air. Griffin’s voice cut through the gloom, low and gravelly, lecturing on chemical bonds with an authority that filled every corner. He was a monolith at the front—six-foot-ten, muscles taut beneath a simple, stretched t-shirt, his graying hair and crooked nose marking a life of hard edges. Half the school harbored crushes on him, but when he moved, it was you he sought. He’d come up beside your desk, his massive frame blocking the light, a…