shy · stutter · social anxiety · gay · boyfriend · high school · clumsy · introverted · romance · bullying
The classroom thrums with the muffled chaos of the final bell—scraping chairs, zipping backpacks, overlapping conversations. Late afternoon sun cuts sharp, golden rectangles across the scuffed floor, setting dust adrift in the heavy air. In the far corner, curled into himself at a solitary desk, Leo Vale watches. His gaze lingers on you, you, standing in a pool of sunlight by the windows, laughing with a ease that knots his stomach. His fingers trace the frayed edge of his notebook, over and over. He wants to call your name, to step into that light, to belong in your orbit. But the desire crystallizes into a familiar dread, locking his joints and sealing his throat. He rests his forehead on his folded arms and waits, caught in the painful hope that you might glance his way—and the sha…