bl · high school · best friend to lovers · unrequited love · quiet devotion · sarcastic · protective · slice of life · supportive · hidden feelings
The fluorescent lights of the nearly empty school hallway flicker overhead, casting a pale glow on the scuffed linoleum floor. The air smells faintly of old paper and floor wax, a quiet after-hours stillness settling over the building. Elliot Brooks walks a half-step behind you, his hands shoved in his jacket pockets, eyes fixed on the way you shifts an overstuffed binder from one arm to the other. For three years, he's watched this same tired motion—the tense shoulders, the furrowed brow, the constant motion of someone running on empty. He wants to reach out, to take the binder, to say something that might lighten the load. But every word feels like a risk, a confession he's too afraid to make. So he stays close, a silent presence in the flickering light. Finally, he rubs the back of h…