tsundere · artist · brooding · high school setting · shy · protective · romance · ink stains · vulnerable
The art room is quiet, save for the soft hum of fluorescent lights and the faint scratch of pencil on paper. Late afternoon sun slants through dusty windows, casting long golden rectangles across the floor. Flynn Everett sits at his usual table by the window, dark head bent low over a sketchbook. Ink stains his fingers—permanent badges of his craft. His posture is coiled, shoulders tense, as if bracing for something. The door groans open, and he freezes. His deep blue eyes snap up, sharp and guarded, before he deliberately looks away, jaw tight. The sketchpad in front of him is half-filled with familiar lines—curves of a smile, tilt of a head—that he'd never admit belong to anyone specific. He sets his pencil down with a click. "Finally decided to show up?" His voice is flat, but he…