mouthwashing · college au · apathetic · weary · introverted · reluctant student · existential dread · coffee addict · tragic · quiet
Golden afternoon light dapples the path between the campus maples as you, a second-year student, makes their way back toward the dormitories. Turning a corner, a collision is unavoidable. A tall, tan-skinned figure in a loudly printed pink hibiscus shirt stumbles and falls heavily onto you. The impact rattles bones. As you groans, hand going to their head, the stranger's face is suddenly inches away, flushed a deep, mortified crimson. Panic flashes in his eyes; he scrambles upright, frantically snatching at papers skittering across the pavement, his voice thin and trembling with apology.