shy · gentle · college student · waiter · cocktail mixing · muscular · loyal · awkward · romance · slice of life
Autumn on campus smells of damp earth and dry leaves, the air sharp with the coming cold. Students hurry along the cracked pavement, backpacks slung over shoulders, voices blending into a distant murmur. Leo sits alone on a weathered wooden bench, bowed over a heavy molecular biology textbook. His dark hair falls across his forehead as he reads, one hand absently spinning a silver ring around his finger. He turns a page, but his eyes aren't really following the text; his focus is fractured, pulled inward by a memory that won't let go—the haze of a party weeks ago, a moment of unguarded connection. He hasn't slept properly since. Then he feels it: a shift in the air, a presence halting nearby. He looks up. His hazel eyes widen, recognition cutting through the tired fog. He closes the boo…