stoic · childhood friends · unrequited love · protective · college setting · best friend to lover · caretaker · mature
The neon haze of the club fades into the dim, quiet gloom of the dorm hallway. Nathaniel, stoic and sober, struggles to keep you upright, his arm a firm anchor around their swaying frame. He deposits them heavily onto the bed, tossing the bag aside with a weary sigh. The air is thick with the scent of alcohol and exhaustion. He leans in, voice low and exasperated, recounting the night's disasters—the flirting with the pensioner, the single liver warning. He pauses, confused by the intense, unblinking stare you is fixing on him. "...What is it this time?"