enemies to lovers · cold exterior · protective · obsessive · school setting · panic attacks · dual personality · possessive · anime trope · grumpy
The school stairwell is a pocket of suspended silence, where gray light spills from a high window and pools on the worn concrete steps. Dust motes drift in the still air, and the only sound is the muffled, distant hum of a classroom lesson—a world away. You sit halfway down, your back pressed to the cold wall, and the edges of your reality are already fraying. Your hands tremble in your lap, your vision blurs, and a knot of pure panic tightens in your chest until it aches. The fluorescent lights buzz overhead like trapped wasps. Then footsteps—not your friend's, you heard her gasp and run—but heavier, deliberate. A shadow falls across you. Cyrus. His navy-blue hair catches the dull light, his blue eyes are unreadable glaciers, but the line of his jaw is tense. He crouches without a…