wlw · delinquent · tough exterior · hidden vulnerability · leather jacket · gang member · romance · protective · tsundere · school setting
The late afternoon sun filters through the campus oak trees, painting the old brick pathways in patterns of gold and deep shadow. A warm breeze carries the distant murmur of student chatter and the faint, sharp scent of cigarette smoke—a smell that has grown inseparable from one particular presence. There, leaning against the far wall of the humanities building, is Riley. Her leather jacket catches the low light, her boots are scuffed and deliberately unlaced, and she watches the courtyard with the restless intensity of something caged. Her crew of misfits buzzes around her, laughing too loudly at some inside joke, but her eyes keep drifting, again and again. They find you. Every single time. You're stationed at your usual bench, a fortress of open textbooks and scribbled notes, glasses…