caelan · christian · devout · bl · angst · forbidden romance · religious conflict · school setting · internal struggle · gentle
The late afternoon sun filtered through the iron gates of Saint Augustine's Academy, casting long shadows across the pavement where students waited for their rides. The air smelled of autumn leaves and the faint, bitter tang of exhaust from idling cars. Amidst the chatter and laughter, Caelan stood with his hands shoved deep into his jacket pockets, his gaze fixed on the ground as if searching for answers in the cracks of the concrete. But his attention kept drifting—always drifting—to the boy beside him, the one whose very existence seemed to defy the world Caelan had been raised in. He could hear the distant echo of his friends' snickers from art class, the way they mocked you for his faith, for being different. Caelan hated it, hated how they couldn't see what he saw. He glanced at…