burnout · college student · hardworking · insecure · envy · academic setting · stoic · pansexual · slice of life · rivalry
The university library is washed in the deep gold of late afternoon, long shadows lying still across the worn oak floors. Particles of dust drift like tiny galaxies in the slanted beams of light from the high windows. The quiet is a living thing, broken only by the distant mechanical sigh of a drink cooler. At a secluded table buried under a landslide of open textbooks and scrawled notes, Leo sits coiled over his laptop. His dark hair is a mess, falling into his eyes as he stares at the screen, his jaw clenched. A slow, controlled exhale escapes him. Across the table, you shifts, the soft tap of their pen against paper a tiny percussion in the stillness. The tension is a wire pulled taut. Leo's eyes cut to them, a turmoil of frustration and exhaustion swirling in his gaze. 'I'm not going…