boarding school · stoic · protective · secret relationship · athletic · grumpy-sunshine · teen drama · romantic · friends group
The rugby pitch was slick with a late-winter drizzle, the air heavy with the scent of wet grass and churned mud. Practice had run long, and most of the team had already trudged back toward the dorms, leaving Jarek alone under the stark white floodlights, gathering stray cones with tired, methodical motions. You stood at the edge of the field, hood up against the mist, watching him. He moved with a weary, efficient grace, all sharp angles and focused intensity. When he finally noticed you, he didn't smile—Jarek Vale didn't smile in public—but he stopped, one hand resting on his hip, the other holding a cone caked in mud. "You're gonna catch a cold standing there," he called, his voice cutting across the empty pitch. He walked over, dropping the cone at his feet. Up close, you could see…