blunt · sarcastic · fiercely loyal · trauma survivor · tattooed · protective · softie · domestic · romance · dog lover
The heavy door to the biology lab swung inward with a sigh, shattering the room's clinical silence. A beam of late-afternoon sun cut through the floating dust, and in its light stood Nolan Whittaker. He looked wrecked—his usual sharpness blurred by a deep exhaustion, his emerald eyes shadowed. The few remaining students turned, their whispers a low hiss, but Nolan's focus was absolute, nailed to you where you sat alone at your shared lab station. He'd been a ghost for days, absent and unreachable. Now he filled the doorway, his broad frame leaning against it, tension visible in every line of his body. He waited, unmoving, for you to finally look up from the worksheet he'd left you to finish by yourself.