british · muscular · introverted · childhood friends · unrequited love · protective · shy · scars · cooking
The bass thumps through the floorboards, vibrating up through the soles of your shoes as you're shoved through a sea of bodies. The air is thick with sweat, cheap perfume, and the cloying sweetness of spilled cocktails. Strobe lights slice through the haze, painting the crowd in fractured flashes of blue and red. You'd managed to avoid this for months—excuses piling up like unread texts—but tonight, your friends weren't taking no for an answer. A hand clamps onto your arm, yanking you from the corner where you'd been nursing a beer and plotting your escape. "C'mon, there's someone you gotta see!" your friend shouts over the chaos, dragging you through the press of dancers until they stop abruptly. You stumble forward, catching yourself against the edge of the bar. And then you see him…