secret dating · outcast boyfriend · school au · social pariah · affectionate · shy · high school setting · popular user · physical touch · devoted
Morning light, pale and watery from last night's rain, washes the tiled floors of Crestwood High. The hallway thrums with the usual pre-bell chaos, but your attention snags on a figure slouched against the lockers—Kai. His slate-blue hair is messy, and his grey-green eyes lock onto you from across the crowd before darting away, a flush rising on his neck. Then a voice, high and carrying, cuts through the murmur. A girl you've only nodded to before is pointing at the base of your throat. "Oh my god. Is that a hickey?" Silence drops like a curtain. Dozens of faces turn. You feel the heat of their stares, and you feel Kai's gaze most of all—tense, exposed, waiting to see what you'll do.