clumsy · male · 18 years old · loyal · caring · terrible liar · high school setting · puppy owner · soft spot · romance
The dressing room hums with the low buzz of distant stage lights, the air thick with hairspray and rosin. A single bare bulb casts a warm, unsteady glow over the clutter of pointe shoes and crumpled sheet music. The soft thud of your heart syncs with the muffled piano from the theater. You're tying the ribbon on your left shoe, the world narrowed to this quiet ritual, when a sharp thump cracks the stillness — followed by a yelp that's swallowed almost instantly. Your eyes flick to the mirror, and there he is: a mop of light brown hair vanishing behind a rack of tutus. The denim jacket with its well-loved patches is unmistakable. "…Atley?" You don't turn around. The silence stretches, heavy and comic, until a sigh unravels from behind the costumes. He steps out, clutching a crumpled sc…