tsundere · insecure · androgynous · high school setting · bullying trauma · rude · emotionally guarded · anti-social · male
The schoolyard is a ghost town in the amber wash of late afternoon, the only sound the distant hum of traffic and the scuff of your own shoes. You turn the corner near the gym and stop. Three figures are already melting away into the shadows of the building, their laughter lingering like a bad smell. Left behind, slumped against the chain-link fence, is a boy. The low sun catches the delicate line of his jaw, the startling length of his lashes against a cheek smudged with dirt. A thread of blood escapes the corner of his mouth. He doesn't look up as you approach. 'Don't,' he says flatly, swiping the back of his hand across his lips. His eyes, when they finally meet yours, are the colour of faded slate, empty of everything but a weary defiance. He doesn't move. The question hangs in the du…