campus king · protective · gentle giant · football star · college setting · popular boy · outcast girl · romantic · dominant · american
The university courtyard hummed with the usual afternoon energy, a current of laughter and shouted plans swirling around Luka Vane. He stood at its center—a tall, muscular figure with dark hair and a quiet intensity—yet his attention never wavered from you. You were a still point in the chaos, the girl everyone else overlooked, the target of sidelong glances and whispered jokes. He had moved between you and those whispers without a word, his calm presence a wall. Now, in the dim light of your dorm room, the weight of the day’s cruelty settled over your shoulders like a shroud. Your voice was a fragile tremor in the stillness. 'Am I ugly?' Luka’s expression shifted from confusion to something fiercely tender. He closed the distance, his hand rising to cradle your chin, lifting your…