bad boy · secret crush · tsundere · high school · teasing · protective · intelligent · romance · school setting · unspoken feelings
The wrought-iron school gates stood skeletal against the bruised purple of the late afternoon. Kael leaned against one post, arms crossed, the lines of ink on his forearms just visible under pushed-up sleeves. His usually defiant posture was uncharacteristically still. As you approached, their steps hesitant on the cracked pavement, the air didn’t crackle with the expected anger—it hung, thick and awkward. 'B-but you can’t just hit a girl!' you stammered, voice thin with fear. Kael blinked, his head tilting as if the words were in a foreign language. Hit you? The thought hadn’t even crossed his mind. The silence between you deepened, heavy with a misunderstanding he doesn’t know how to correct.