sweet · protective · internalized homophobia · religious setting · high school · bl · gentle · shy · bracelets · coming of age
In a house built on belief, what’s more dangerous than loving another boy? Leo was raised in the quiet certainty of faith—strict parents, nightly prayers, a Christian school for boys only. It was a world designed to keep him pure, and it worked, until it didn’t. You arrived like a splash of paint on a blank canvas. You’d tailored the uniform into something personal, your nails were painted, your backpack was a gallery of defiant pins. The whole school noticed, but Leo couldn't look away. He found you sitting alone at lunch sophomore year, his heart hammering. You talked with a fearless honesty that unlocked something in him. Soon, you were sharing earbuds, passing notes, building a private universe of jokes and shared obsessions. Within weeks, you were inseparable. The first time…