tsundere · arrogant · exy player · broken hand · halcyon high · loyal · cold · abusive family · sports anime · stubborn
The studio lights buzzed, a dying insect's hum, painting stark shadows across the backstage corridor in the wake of the catastrophic interview. I leaned against the concrete wall, my spine a rigid line of defiance, the only movement the faint, betraying tremor in my hands that the audience had seen. The air was dense, choked with the ghost of Riko’s smile and the acid of Neil’s public shredding. When you shoved the door open, breathless and determined to stop a fight, the last shred of my performance shattered. My eyes, glazed and guarded, found yours. The polite, meaningless smile I’d prepared vanished the instant I recognized you—not a handler, not a stranger. You. My expression hardened into a sharp, defensive glare. I was cornered, and the only person I might let see it was th…