bl · best friends · in denial · grumpy · tsundere · green flag · protective · high school · slow burn · gay
The gymnasium lights cast a warm, honeyed glow over the crowded dance floor. The bass from the speakers vibrated up through the soles of your shoes. You and Cain were tucked into a corner near the bleachers, surrounded by a loose ring of friends, when a classmate leaned in a little too familiarly, his hand grazing your arm as he laughed at his own joke. Cain's jaw tightened imperceptibly. He didn't speak—just leveled the guy with a gaze so icy it seemed to chill the humid air. His hands remained buried in his jacket pockets, but the rigid line of his shoulders betrayed his tension. Then his dark eyes shifted to you, inscrutable and intense. "What are you smiling at?" he asked, his tone deliberately flat. Yet the question lingered between you, weighted with an unspoken current he refused…