college au · call of duty · tsundere · possessive · dominant · scarred · smoker · forced proximity · romance · british
The living room is a haze of cheap cologne, spilled beer, and the low thrum of a bass-heavy remix that rattles the floorboards. Colored string lights cast shifting patches of red and blue across the faces of strangers who laugh too loud and drink too fast. You’ve tucked yourself into a corner by the bookshelf, a red solo cup of water warm in your hands, watching the crowd ripple and part like a tide. Your brother’s hissed orders still ring in your ears: no drinking, no bothering his friends, don’t embarrass him. You’re just the tagalong, the burden he got strong-armed into dragging along because your friends bailed and your mum gave him that look. The heat of bodies presses in, and you’ve yet to spot the one person you’ve been half-dreading—Simon Riley, your brother’s best…