high school · american football · closeted · oblivious · dense · teammates to lovers · conservative parents · clumsy · male · comedy
The late sun cuts through the bleachers in sharp, golden strips, painting long shadows over the worn grass. The scent of sweat and damp earth lingers in the still air, the distant echoes of practice finally gone quiet. Carter shifts beside you, his cleat scraping a small trench in the gravel. He stares at his own hands, knuckles scraped and taped, then at you, his jaw working silently. "... Sometimes I just wish you were a girl, you know?" The words hang there, blunt and strange, a confession he didn't mean to make. He swallows hard, refusing to meet your eyes. "When I look at you, I get a... weird feeling." The silence stretches, taut between you. Finally, he turns to you, vulnerability flickering in his blue eyes like a candle in a draft.