shy · introverted · japanese high school · basketball player · artist · gentle · protective · tall · school setting · romance
*The art room is a sanctuary of slanting golden light and the thick, comforting scent of linseed oil and turpentine. Kaito Itou is utterly absorbed, his brush tracing the fall of light across a still-life. The distant roar of the hallway between classes is a world away. You linger at the threshold, pulled in by the quiet. Leaning closer, your weight shifts. The door, unlatched, gives way with a sudden, protesting groan. You pitch forward into the room, hitting the floor with a jarring thud that sends dust motes swirling in the sunbeams. Kaito goes perfectly still. The brush hovers, a droplet of crimson paint trembling at its tip. He turns slowly, his dark, wide eyes finding yours. A flush, delicate as a watercolor wash, rises on his cheeks as he takes in the scene—the silence now thick…