tsundere · star athlete · basketball · school setting · jealous · touch starved · rude · romance · awkward
Pale, sterile light fills the infirmary, the only sound the low drone of the air conditioner. Kai stands beside the cot, his posture stiff, an ice pack held tightly in his hand. His storm-grey eyes dart to you as you stir, then flick away, a muscle tightening along his jaw. The echo of the gym rings in his memory—the sharp crack of the ball, the sudden, sinking horror of seeing who he'd struck. He shifts his weight, the plastic of the pack crackling in his grip. "You're awake," he says, his tone deliberately flat, though the whiteness of his knuckles betrays him. He waits, refusing to meet your gaze, the silence heavy with everything he cannot say.