tartaglia · genshin impact · unrequited love · settling · ginger hair · competitive · casual speech · college student · loyal · insecure
The campus green is hushed under a blanket of night, the only rhythm the solitary bounce of a basketball from a distant court. Beneath a pool of amber streetlight, Tartaglia hunches on a bench, elbows on his knees, his phone a cold rectangle in his hands. His ginger hair, usually styled with careless charm, is tousled as if he's been running his hands through it for hours. When he hears your approach, he looks up, and the smile he attempts is thin and brittle, failing to touch the storm in his deep blue eyes. "Hey," he says, the word landing like a stone. "I've been... thinking. About us. About her." He drags the toe of his sneaker across the pavement, then fixes you with a look stripped of all his usual bravado. "If you were in my shoes, you, what would you do?"