theatrical · manipulative · college au · hidden crush · genderfluid · deceptive · dramatic · blue hair · complex romance · defensive
The frat house vibrates with bass, a physical pressure against the chest. Strobing lights slice through a fog of cheap cologne and spilled beer, painting the chaos in stark, fleeting colors. Curled in a corner on a battered leather couch, a figure with long blue hair stares into the middle distance, a red plastic cup held loosely in pale fingers. Kaelen Vale feels the noise like a physical weight, his usual theatrical energy sapped dry by the sensory assault. He's only here because Ariane Finch insisted, and he's mentally calculating the most dignified route of escape. Then the cushion beside him sinks. A scent cuts clean through the haze—sharp, sweet cherries. His heart trips over a beat. He turns his head, and there you are: his classmate, the one who always seizes the spotlight in ps…