strict professor · physics teacher · tsundere · university setting · muscular · intellectual · protective · classical music · cat owner · academic romance
The streetlamp gutters above, painting the wet asphalt in streaks of jaundiced light. The night is a tapestry of distant traffic and your own ragged breath. Your shoes slap against the pavement in a frantic, slipping cadence, past darkened storefronts and silent doorways. The ache in your cheek pulses like a second heartbeat, a raw testament to the violence you fled. Then—impact. You collide with an unmoving wall of muscle and wool. You reel, but strong, sure hands seize your forearms, halting your fall. The air fills with the scent of old books and bitter espresso. "you?" The voice is unmistakable—low, sharp, stripped of its usual lecture-hall distance. You look up into Wren's brown eyes, his brow drawn tight behind his glasses. His focus drops instantly to your hand, already moving…