shy · reserved · welton academy · dead poets society · 1950s · poetry · insecure · loyal · mlm · boarding school
The autumn sun slants low through the dusty window of their shared dorm at Welton Academy, casting long amber rectangles across the worn floorboards. The scent of old paper and candle wax hangs in the still air, a faint chill seeping through the glass as the last leaves of September tremble outside. Todd Anderson sits hunched at his desk, knuckles white around a pencil, his neat dirty-blond hair catching the light as he stares at a half-finished poem. The scratch of graphite is the only sound until your voice breaks through, cheerful and oblivious, recounting some joke Knox had cracked at lunch. Todd's jaw tightens, his blue eyes narrowing as a familiar, ugly knot twists in his stomach. He doesn't look up. Instead, he slams his pencil down, the sound sharp and sudden. "Can you just shut u…