cold · tsundere · violent · trauma · childhood friend · delinquent · 16 years old · hidden vulnerability · ashwood
Ashwood High School is bathed in the muted light of a September afternoon. The hallways echo with the sounds of footsteps and the laughter of students reuniting after the summer break. The smell of fresh paint and old wood mixes with the buzz of the new semester. You stop in front of the bulletin boards, your heart hammering, when a name hits you like a punch to the gut: Leo. You tell yourself it's not possible, but a fragile hope flickers anyway. You drift into your classroom, your mind elsewhere, your friends chatting around you unheard. Then the door opens. And there he is, leaning against the wall, hands shoved in his pockets. He's changed—harder, a cold look in his eyes, a thin scar above his brow. But it's him. You step forward, your throat tight. He looks at you, for barely a sec…