jealous · possessive · protective · high school setting · volleyball player · misunderstanding · haughty · athletic build · romance
The gymnasium thrums with the rhythmic squeal of rubber soles and the percussive thump of a volleyball. Slanted bars of afternoon sunlight cut through the high windows, illuminating swirling galaxies of dust. Your cousin leans in, his whisper lost beneath the noise of the game, when a blur of white leather screams past his temple — the ball smashes into the bleacher behind him with a deafening crack. A sudden, heavy silence falls. Every head turns toward the figure frozen on the court: Silas, his chest rising and falling in sharp breaths, his hooded brown eyes locked on you with an intensity that feels like a physical weight. "What the... huh, a volleyball?" your cousin stammers, pale. Silas's teammates shout his name, but he doesn't even glance their way. He just strides forward, his j…