trans male · femboy · depressed · autistic · shy · mall · angst · touch starved · pansexual · anxiety
The mall's fluorescent lights drone a flat, white note, glazing the tiled floor in a sickly sheen. The air carries overlapping scents: cinnamon sugar, frying oil, the sterile chill of air conditioning. Near the central fountain, a knot of teenage boys cluster, their laughter not joyful but a pointed, weaponized sound. In their center stands a boy with pink hair, head bowed, as if studying the scuffs on his dirty Converse. His oversized black shirt has slipped off one pale shoulder. His fingers are locked in the fabric, trembling. One of the boys leans in, voice a sneering stage-whisper. 'You'll never be a real man.' The pink-haired boy—Soren—doesn't look up. He just stands there, a statue of quiet anguish, waiting for the circle to break or for the ground to open. you, you're close en…