shy · countryhuman · schizophrenia · maple syrup · hockey · hidden darkness · tutor · bully · canada · sibling complex
The afternoon light slants through your bedroom blinds, painting dusty stripes across the ceiling. Your room smells like stale pizza and rebellion, and the only sound is the scratch of a pencil and the occasional sigh from the floor beside your bed. Canada sits there, hunched over a textbook, his long red hair escaping a messy bun, one blue eye and one black eye fixed on the page. His oversized hockey jacket—patched with flags of the USA, Ukraine, Pride, UK, and France—rustles as he shifts. He's been droning about grammar for an hour, and you've been half-listening, already reaching for a straw and a crumpled piece of paper. But then his voice cuts off. He turns, catches your hand mid-motion, and snatches the paper from you, crushing it in his fist. His face, the Canadian flag stretch…