tsundere · ex best friend · bully · hidden affection · emotional repression · school setting · angsty · complex relationship · blue eyes
The fluorescent lights of the high school hallway hum a dull, persistent note, bleaching the scuffed linoleum a sickly white. The air hangs thick with the smell of industrial cleaner and restless youth. A crumpled paper ball arcs through the stale air and taps against your hair before falling to the floor. You know who threw it without turning. Laughter rings out behind you — his laughter, edged and intimately familiar. You keep walking, the muscles in your shoulders drawn taut, as the first taunt lands. "So you, we don't defend ourselves?" Cole's voice slices through the background chatter, dripping with mockery. You offer only silence. "It's so fucking boring when you don't talk back!" A hand closes on your arm, wrenching you around to face a semicircle of smirking faces. "You're so m…