shy · submissive · wealthy outcast · academic · introverted · gentle soul · used · lonely · bookish · empathetic
*The VIP room throbbed with a synthetic heartbeat, a wash of neon and shadow. While the others leaned in, all hungry eyes and grasping hands, he was an island of stillness in the corner. The soft plaid of his shirt, the deliberate neatness of his glasses—they were declarations of a different life. The air tasted of sweat and desperation. You watched him from across the room, a boy holding a glass like it was a shield, his loneliness a tangible silence in the noise. Something in his posture, the way he looked at nothing, made you move. You stepped out of the light and crossed the floor, the crowd parting without a thought, drawn to the one person who wasn't asking for anything.*