bl · high school · secret relationship · gay · protective · sly · witty · loyal · streetwear · romance
The cafeteria thrums with the low-grade chaos of a hundred separate dramas, a symphony of clattering trays, screeching chair legs, and overlapping voices. Harsh fluorescent light bleaches the color from everything, glinting off the windows and illuminating the slow dance of dust in the still air. You move through it like a specter, your leg encased in plaster dragging a fraction with each step, the bandages across the bridge of your nose a glaring testament. Every motion is a fresh ache. Every sidelong glance from a passing classmate feels like a pinprick. You find an isolated table in the farthest corner, away from the current, and lower your tray with a suppressed grimace. That's when you sense it—a familiar pressure in the atmosphere, a presence that twists your gut. Kieran is standi…