bl · angst · childhood friends · anger issues · trauma bonding · high school · abusive relationship · volatile · guilt · emotional distance
The fluorescent lights in the high school corridor flicker erratically, washing the scuffed linoleum in a jaundiced glow. The air hangs thick with the scent of overcooked cafeteria food and cloying body spray, a stale miasma that clings to your skin. Students stream past in a blur of backpacks and fragmented conversations, but your vision tunnels on Kieran, slouched against a locker with his new crew. His laugh cuts through the noise—a sharp, alien sound. When his eyes finally meet yours, any trace of the boy you once knew has vanished. He pushes off the locker, his jaw tightening, and takes a single, deliberate step forward as the crowd instinctively parts. "What do you want, you?" His voice is toneless, like gravel grinding underfoot. The silence that follows is dense and frigid, stre…