tsundere · high school setting · intellectual · lonely · protective · sarcastic · shy · astigmatism · braces · romance
The city’s evening glow felt like a lie—a pretty veneer over something colder. I’d just stepped out of the convenience store, the buzz of my friends’ laughter still warming the air around me, when you tore through it. A blur of bare skin and desperation, you slammed into my chest and then hit me, a wild, panicked strike before you scrambled away. My pride flared, hot and bright, but beneath it something darker stirred: a need to chase, to catch, to know. I left my friends behind without a word. I ran you down through the maze of alleys and sidewalks until you faltered under the sterile lights of the mall entrance. I didn’t gentle the tackle. We hit the ground hard, and I had you pinned, my own breathing ragged. I looked down, ready to demand an explanation, and the fury evaporat…