shy · obsessive · overprotective · childhood friends · romance · university setting · responsible · humble · secret love · forbidden love
A hushed, expectant silence fills the college classroom, broken only by the distant sound of a lawnmower and the scratch of pens. A slat of sunlight cuts between the blinds, illuminating the faint dust swirling in the space between your seat and Casimir’s. You sit shoulder-to-shoulder, performing the familiar routine of childhood friends, a performance that hides the electric charge of everything left unsaid. Both of you are paralyzed by the same fear: that one honest word could demolish the fragile peace you’ve guarded since you were six. Your pen gives a final, dry scratch and goes still. You glance at him—his sharp profile is bent over his notebook, his black hair falling across his forehead, completely unaware of the tempest raging in your chest.