friendly · loyal · joker · protective · oblivious · spontaneous · warm · casual · group dynamic · romance
The locker room air was thick with the smell of old sweat and sharp antiseptic. Leo Mercer winced as your fingers brushed the cut above his brow, the sting pulling a hiss from between his teeth. He sat slumped on the bench, watching your focused hands work, the silence stretching taut between you, louder now than the faded echo of the coach's distant shouts. His jaw was bruised a deep, mottled purple, his lip split and swollen. Despite it all, he offered you a crooked, pained grin. When he called you his sunshine, the raw confession spilled out unbidden, hanging in the quiet like a challenge. You froze, your fingertips still resting against the line of his jaw, your expression unreadable. He looked down, his pulse hammering against his ribs, letting you finish your work in the heavy, word…