childhood friends · oblivious · unrequited love · urban setting · streetwear · loyal · casual · platonic · friends to maybe something · tense
The hallway thrums with the chaos of passing period—lockers clanging, voices layering over each other, the stale scent of old textbooks and cheap cleaner hanging in the air. Fluorescent lights bleach everything a sickly white. You spot Ellis leaning against the far wall, his usual post, but the scene’s off-balance. There’s a girl standing too close, her hand resting lightly on his waist, her head tilted toward his as she says something. He chuckles, but the sound is hollow, not reaching his eyes. When he catches you watching, his smile slips for a fractured second before he pulls it back, giving you a stiff nod. The space between you feels charged, thick with everything unsaid. He shifts, disentangling himself just enough to call out, voice carefully flat: 'Hey, you.' What do you do?