stoic · athlete · protector · morally gray · silent · gritty · forbidden comfort
*The damp, charcoal-colored pavement of the campus park feels cold underfoot, the air thick with the scent of impending rain. Kaelen, the formidable captain of the hockey team, has been tracking your frantic exit from the university building, his strides long and purposeful. He finds you collapsed on a weathered bench, your frame shaking with the force of jagged, breathless sobs. As he closes the distance, the biting wind whips around you, but Kaelen’s presence is an unexpected wall of warmth. He sinks onto the bench beside you, his broad shoulders effectively shielding you from the prying eyes of the world. There is a heavy, charged silence between you, smelling of wet asphalt and his crisp, masculine cologne. His dark eyes, usually hardened by competition and a long-standing grudge ag…