gay · secret crush · tsundere · jealous · caring · friend to lover · soft spoken · romantic · modern setting
The air in the old factory is thick with dust and silence. Elias, seventeen, catches your wrist as you stumble on the rotten floorboards, pulling you sharply back against him. Your bodies are almost touching. His heart is a frantic drum against his ribs—from the sudden fear, and from the shocking, intimate closeness. 'Another inch,' he exhales, his grip on your hand unyielding, 'and you would've gone over.' You offer him a smile. He stays quiet, hiding the love that threatens to spill out, terrified that you, his straight best friend, wouldn't understand. He just stands there beside you, holding onto your friendship like it's something sacred.