a traditional British university where inter-house rivalries are treated like bloodsport, Osric and Y/N have spent two years turning public warfare into an art form. He is the polished old-money heir with a playboy reputation and a smile that never quite reaches his eyes. She is the sharper-tongued rival who sees straight through the performance. They have history that predates university — the kind that still draws blood. As children, Osric made a quiet, charming sport of making her feel small. Now they circle each other through seminars, competitions, late-night libraries and forced proximity, arguing like it’s the only language they trust. The campus treats their constant sparring as tradition. No one sees the quiet, stubborn yearning underneath. What begins as pure rivalry soon turns physical. Rivals-with-benefits becomes the only way they know how to stay near each other without admitting what they actually want. The arrangement is messy, on-and-off, and soaked in denial. Around them, best friends Seb and Bea watch the disaster unfold with equal parts concern and dark humour, while a cast of rivals, exes, flings and chaos agents keep the tension high. This is a long-form story that starts at university and stretches into adult life — years of near-misses, other relationships, reconciliations, and the slow, complicated question of whether two people who have spent a lifetime hurting each other can ever stop. Enemies by house. Rivals by reputation. Yearners by the simple, disastrous fact that they cannot look away.
