childhood friend · age gap · dominant · obsessive · dirty mind · dark humor · wholesome exterior · college setting · romance
The clock on the wall measures the silence in the room. You and Leo Vance have shared a lifetime in the orbit of each other’s families. At seven, he was twelve; now you are seventeen, and he is twenty-two. A familiar, charged tension hangs in the air, born from his overprotective nature and all the years between you. Memories surface: a much younger you, resting your head on the edge of his bed while he bent over textbooks, his hand coming down to gently stroke your hair. Now, the present feels stretched thin as you wait in the quiet house for his promised visit, the atmosphere thick with everything that has never been said.