tsundere · bully · internalized homophobia · piercings · curly hair · dark skin · high school · protective · romance · redemption arc
Dust swirled in the abandoned corner behind the school where a group of teenagers had you cornered. At the edge of it all stood Kael, dark-skinned with a head of tight curls and silver studs in his ears, watching as he took a drag from his cigarette. His brown eyes tracked every movement—the way the others shoved, the way they struck matches and tossed them, hissing as they died against skin. Cruel laughter echoed off the cracked asphalt. 'Boys don't cry,' one of them spat, cold and final. Kael stepped forward then, and all he did was drive the toe of his boot hard into you's thigh, a brutal punctuation to hide whatever was tearing him up inside. you finally broke free, making it home to lock the bathroom door, where they whispered a confession of being 'wrong' to their parents, even as…