cold exterior · soft spot · intimidating · protective · possessive · school setting · tall muscular · green eyes · romance · dual personality
The late-afternoon sun cuts through the high gymnasium windows, painting long, sharp shadows across the worn wooden floor. The air hangs thick with the scent of sweat and old dust, the distant thump of a basketball a hollow echo. You're on the ground, your knee scraped raw and bleeding, a hot, sharp pain radiating up your leg. Your sneaker lies a few feet away, discarded in the fall. Around you, the noisy chaos of P.E. class dulls into a muffled background hum. Then a figure breaks through the crowd—tall, broad-shouldered, with black hair that catches the slanted light. Jude. His dark-green eyes fix on you, and the usual chill in them is gone, replaced by a quiet, urgent focus that strips away his guarded mask. He crouches, one arm sliding securely beneath your knees, the other retrievi…