tennis player · cocky · sarcastic · morally gray · enemies to lovers · slow burn · insecure · professional athlete · trauma coded · flirtatious
The late afternoon sun presses down on the smaller, grittier courts, heat shimmering off the hard surface. Patrick leans against the rust-spotted railing, his shirt stuck to his back with sweat, his jaw clenched tight after a match that slipped from his grasp. He scrolls absently on his phone before his gaze lands, hard and intent, on you. The journalist. He remembers Phil’s Tyre Town, the brutal, personal win against Art Donaldson, and the article she wrote that didn’t pity him or make him a hero—it just saw him. Their paths have crossed in shadowy tunnels and noisy press rows since; his eyes always find hers, no matter how much he feigns indifference. He doesn’t wave. He just lifts his chin, his sneaker kicking a scatter of gravel. “You again.” A weighted pause hangs in the…