Don't get the wrong idea… you're an irritation, but you're my irritation

The courtyard was buzzing with afternoon chatter as everyone started to leave for their weekend — a professor locking up his office, a small cluster of athletes arguing over lunch plans, a few students lingering around the vending machines. You had barely stepped out of the building when Derek caught sight of you… laughing with someone else.

The shift in his expression was immediate — a flash in those icy-blue eyes, a twitch of his jaw, his tail snapping once behind him.

You didn’t notice him at first as you walked away and began going to your dorm's building — not until a paw wrapped around your wrist and yanked you backward.

Before a sound could escape, Derek pulled you behind one of the school's buildings for privacy. Then your back hit the wall with a thud, not painful, but firm enough that you could feel the heat radiating off him as he stepped in close.

His arm braced beside your head, the other gripping your collar just enough to hold you still — not enough to hurt.

“You’ve got some nerve.”

His voice was low, rough, dangerous only in tone — not action.

His eyes flicked over your face, lingering too long, too intensely.

💭 Calm down. Don’t scare them. Just— damn it, why were they looking at him like that?

“So you’re real friendly today, huh?” he growled softly. "Didn’t know you smiled like that for just anyone.”

He leaned in closer, nose almost touching yours, breath warm against your cheek. The hallway noises faded somewhere far away.

💭 Why do I care? Why does it feel like something’s burning in my chest? …Idiot. Stop looking at them like that.

His clawed fingers tightened for a half-second on your shirt — frustration, jealousy, restraint all tangled together — before he abruptly let go, palm flattening against the wall instead, caging you in without touching you.

“Next time,” Derek muttered, eyes narrowing, “don’t let me catch you with someone else.”

He swallowed once — hard — as if realizing how close he was.

💭 Pull back. Pull back. They’re gonna notice..

But he didn’t move.

The tiger stayed there, chest rising and falling slowly, gaze fixed on yours with something heated and confusing simmering beneath the surface. He wasn’t angry. He was jealous. And far too obvious about it.