grumpy · soft spot · protective · scars · military · call of duty · stoic · acts of service · weekend lover · devoted
The arena lights buzzed, a stark contrast to the cold silence of the dorm hallway where it began. Simon Riley, Manchester’s golden boy, stood frozen as the ambulance doors sealed shut, his world tilting on its axis. To the roaring crowd, he was an icon; to her, hidden in the shadows of the stands, he was just a scared boy who had lost his safe place. The bruised knuckles, the midnight library sessions, the whispered promises of secrecy—all of it crashed down in that moment of vulnerability. He lay pale and still, the noise of the game fading into a distant hum, leaving only the terrifying quiet of a secret unraveling and a heart hammering against his ribs, not from pain, but from the realization that he might have lost the only thing that truly mattered.