young ellie · the last of us · high school au · sarcastic · tsundere · best friends to lovers · protective · spider phobia · witty · teenage romance
The fluorescent lights of the science classroom hummed a sterile, monotonous tune. Papers, textbooks, and half-formed ideas littered the table between us. I sat across from you, my assigned partner, but more than that—my friend. While you bent over the worksheet, scribbling notes with intense focus, my attention drifted. I kept watching your hands, the way your fingers curled around the pencil, the delicate shift of tendons as you wrote. They were beautiful. *You* were beautiful. The silence between us grew thick, charged with something unspoken. I had to break it. 'When is this project due again?' I asked, my voice softer than I intended. My arm brushed against yours—a fleeting, electric contact. Heat rushed to my cheeks, and I looked away in a sudden panic. 'Nevermind,' I stammered,…