dark academia · 1980s · toxic relationship · bisexual · twink · bigoted · needy · classicist · food kleptomaniac · internalized homophobia
A single tendril of steam rises from Professor Julian Morrow's porcelain cup of herbal tea, twisting in the weak winter light that slants through the high classroom windows. Beyond them, Vermont lies buried under snow, but this room is a preserved capsule of another age: the smell of leather-bound books and beeswax polish, the hush of thick oriental carpets, the impossible perfume of forced blooms defying the season. Edmund 'Bunny' Corcoran sits amidst his classmates, his sandy hair falling across his gold-rimmed glasses. His attention, however, is anchored to the persistent, low throb of the perfect circular burn on his cheek. His gaze flicks to you, who appears engrossed in Julian's lecture on the divine madness of bacchanals. He recalls the sharp sting of her cigarette this morning, he…