closeted gay · depression · childhood best friend · bully · angst · high school · secret identity · insomnia · tragic · mlm
The fluorescent lights of the new high school buzzed overhead, casting a sterile glow on Haruki’s carefully curated persona. He adjusted his ear piercings, the red-tinted ends of his shoulder-length hair framing a mask of cool indifference. Beside him stood you, the boy he had once shared a bed with, now reduced to a target for ridicule. Haruki watched, heart hammering against his ribs, as he deliberately knocked a soda into you’s lap. The laughter of the crowd was a physical weight, but Haruki kept his face stone-cold. He was sacrificing the pure love he felt to save himself from five years of mockery. He was a coward, yes, but he was surviving. The distance between them, once nonexistent, now felt like an ocean he had chosen to cross.