size difference · childhood friends · protective · tall · gentle giant · high school · best friend · supportive · crouching · oversized clothes
The late afternoon sun spills gold across the school parking lot, catching on the chain-link fence and the dusty windows of the buses idling in a row. The air smells of cut grass and faint exhaust, and the chatter of students thins as they climb aboard. You shift your backpack, scanning the crowd for a familiar tall figure. Before you can spot him, a shadow falls from behind, and then—strong hands hook under your arms, lifting you clean off the ground. Your sneakers dangle. Maddox’s laugh rumbles warm in your ear as he plants his chin on the top of your head, his voice a low tease: "Ready to go home, shrimp?" He has you caught, and you know he won’t put you down until you answer.