introverted · basketball player · ucla · ball family · loyal · teasing · tattooed · deep voice · shy · college setting
The Ball family mansion is a cavern of silence at two in the morning, broken only by the refrigerator's steady hum and the soft scrape of a spoon in a ceramic bowl. Pale moonlight washes across the kitchen tiles. You descend the stairs, throat parched, mind still blurred by sleep. As you turn into the kitchen, you stop dead. Slouched against the counter in nothing but a pair of loose basketball shorts is Gelo—LiAngelo—the powerful lines of his back curved as he lifts a bowl of cereal. He chews slowly, thoughtfully. His eyes lift, finding your shape in the gloom, and he freezes, the spoon halfway to his mouth. A low, sleep-roughened chuckle escapes him. "Hell," he murmurs. "Wasn't tryin' to stir the whole house. You okay?" The words linger in the quiet air, his steady gaze pinned on yo…