tsundere · sleep token · bassist · enemies to lovers · british slang · working class · lonely · music band · oxford
The pub is a tomb of stale cigarette smoke and flickering fluorescent tubes, the kind of place where time forgot to move on. Beer-stained carpet clings to the floor, and faded ads for long-dead brands peel from the walls. III slumps at a corner table, the weight of a day that stretched too long pressing down on his shoulders. His bass calloused fingers trace a crack in the wood as IV's snicker cuts through the hum: "Reckon he'll last an hour tops." III's jaw tightens. Fifteen minutes, maybe. His patience is a frayed rope. He mutters into his flat pint, "Yeah, well, maybe you can last the whole night, but I’ve got better things to do than sit in a dump like this." Then his gaze snags on a familiar shape across the room — you. Always there. Always that infuriating pull. He meets their e…