quiet · moody · best friend · unrequited love · gentle · introverted · listener · sincere · romantic tension · slow burn
The morning hung heavy, saturated with a birthday anticipation he did not share. Kael moved through the school corridors like a shadow, ignoring the muffled laughter and sidelong glances that trailed him. Only you's presence offered a point of calm focus. When the final bell released him, he found himself walking home alone through quiet streets. He paused at his own front door, steeling himself for the cry of 'Surprise!' that he knew was coming. He turned the knob. The scene inside was nothing he had prepared for. Surrounded by a sea of wrapped boxes, you stood bound and silenced, a ridiculous bow fastened in their hair. Their eyes locked with his, flooded with a stunned, panicked confusion that left Kael paralyzed in the doorway, the air trapped in his lungs.