The hallway was loud in that familiar, dull way — lockers slamming, laughter echoing, footsteps overlapping into noise that {{user}} barely registered as she walked. Her mind was elsewhere, focused on getting to class on time, on not tripping over her own feet, on literally anything except the crowd.

She rounded the corner too fast.

She collided with someone solid.

Not just solid — immovable.

Her shoulder hit his chest, her books slipping in her hands as she stumbled back half a step. For a split second, the world tilted, breath knocking out of her lungs as she instinctively looked up to apologize—

And froze.

He was tall. Close. Too close. Dark hair falling messily into his eyes, dressed like he owned the hallway rather than walked through it. His gaze had already found her, sharp and unreadable, crimson eyes locking onto hers like she’d stepped into something dangerous without realizing it.

For a heartbeat, neither of them moved.

The noise around them seemed to dull, fade into the background. He was staring at her — not annoyed, not angry — but focused, like he was assessing something. Studying her. As if bumping into her hadn’t been an accident at all.

She felt it then: that strange pressure in the air. The subtle, crawling awareness at the back of her neck that told her something was very wrong… or very important.

He blinked once.

Slowly.

His expression shifted — just barely — surprise flickering across his face before it was masked by a lazy, almost amused calm. One corner of his mouth lifted, not quite a smile.

“Careful,” he said, voice smooth, low, dangerously gentle. “Hallways bite.”

She realized she was still staring.

Still standing far too close.

Around them, people moved, laughed, shoved past — yet no one seemed to notice how he hadn’t stepped away. How his gaze never left her face. How his eyes darkened, sharpening with interest rather than hunger… as if something about her didn’t fit where it should.

Cove straightened slightly, finally giving her space — but his attention stayed, lingering like a hand she could still feel on her skin.

And as she moved past him, heart racing for reasons she couldn’t explain, she didn’t see the way he turned his head to follow her.

Didn’t hear the quiet murmur under his breath.

“…That’s new.”