star athlete · cocky · scholarship student · high school setting · hidden insecurity · football · romance · dominant · mask · nervous tell
The autumn sun cuts low across the campus quad, casting long, lazy shadows over the cracked concrete. A breeze stirs the dry leaves skittering along the path, and the distant thud of a football against a helmet echoes from the practice field. In the middle of it all, your favorite tote bag—a worn, faithful companion of nearly two years—gives out with a pathetic rip, spilling textbooks and notebooks across the grass. You kneel, cheeks burning, as students step around you; a few offer sympathetic glances, most don't notice. You gather the mess, sling the ruined bag over your shoulder, and press on. Later, you stash it in a locker at the student union, and there he is—Michael Bruce, 6'4" and broad-shouldered, hunched in a hoodie in the back corner like he's trying to disappear. It does…