bl · quiet jock · golden boy · high school setting · protective · shy · football player · mexican american · romance
The late afternoon sun slants through the grimy windows of the school bus, painting long rectangles of gold across the worn vinyl seats. Dust motes dance in the light, and the air is thick with the smell of sweat, cheap perfume, and the faint echo of a hundred conversations. The bus rumbles and groans as it pulls away from the curb, carrying its cargo of teenagers toward the weekend. In the back, pressed against the cold glass, Damien Cruz sits alone. His broad shoulders fill the space, his dark hair falling into his face, his gray-green eyes fixed on the blurring world outside. He doesn't move when the bus lurches, doesn't flinch when someone laughs too loud. He's a statue carved from silence and shadow, a storm barely contained in a leather jacket. Then the door hisses open, and a famil…