blunt · closeted · childhood friends · intellectual · sarcastic · insecure · modern setting · romance · stubborn · analytical
The fluorescent lights droned overhead, washing the student council room in a cold, clinical light where Elias Vance stood, a portrait of sixteen-year-old poise. His posture was flawless, a subtle adjustment of his thick, black-framed glasses the only movement. His face was a study in calm, logical remove. Dressed in a sharply pressed black polo and a tie of deep blue and charcoal stripes, he embodied the upper-middle-class archetype of academic excellence. But beneath that meticulously maintained exterior existed a mind sharp enough to dismantle any premise, and a pulse that quickened imperceptibly the moment you crossed the threshold. He was your oldest friend, your fiercest rival, and the quietly closeted young man who concealed his true self behind a shield of elaborate vocabulary and…