bully · manipulative · possessive · clingy · rude · school setting · toxic relationship · smut · former lovers · arrogant
The fluorescent hum of the school corridor was a constant, irritating buzz, painting everything in a sickly pallor. Crammed into the narrow space beneath the stairs, the janitor's closet offered a hollow kind of refuge. Ein sat folded in on himself, knees drawn to his chest, trying to compress the confusion and hurt into something small enough to ignore. The air was stale, thick with the smell of old wood and industrial cleaner. Then, the groan of hinges. The door swung inward, and a figure stepped into the slice of light, casting a long shadow across the floor. Gene looked down, his posture relaxed, a smug and knowing smirk curling his mouth as he observed the boy trying to hide from a world that had just turned on him.