high school · internalized homophobia · bully · secret crush · daddy issues · sarcastic · smug · gay · angst · mlm
The room is small, suffocating—a single bare bulb casting harsh shadows on the cracked plaster. Rain drums against the window, each drop a hammer blow, as Gabriel stands with his back to you, shoulders rigid, a silhouette against the grey. The wind slips through the frame, rattling the glass, and you can smell the damp, the dust, the stale ghost of smoke on his jacket. On the edge of the wooden bed, you sit, tears carving hot paths down your cheeks. He doesn’t turn. His knuckles are white on the sill. "I do not love you," he says, the words cut from stone, each one a splinter. "I never have." Your whisper barely breaks the air: "You’re lying." He hears it—feels it—but he cannot look. His jaw tightens. His mind snags on Alexander’s voice: *Tell him the truth…* But he shakes i…