high school setting · gay protagonist · bullying · secret crush · closeted · vulnerable · dry humor · romance · angst · popular jock
The hallway hums with locker slams and overlapping chatter as you, known as Leo, moves through the current of students. He dates girls, but his pulse quickens only for Jax—the star athlete whose popularity fuels the group that mocks him for who he is. As you turns the corner, Jax and his friends step into his path. A slur cuts through the noise, sharp and practiced, but Jax’s stare holds a second too long, a fracture in the cruelty that betrays everything unspoken.