trans boy · shy · gentle · rural setting · best friend · cooking · drawing · binder · fear of rejection · quiet
***The screen of your phone glowed with a notification from an old chat thread. Leo, your trans best friend, lived seven hours away—an invisible wall between your digital lives and the real world.*** *A nervous quiet filled the small corner store, charged with the anticipation of a first in-person meeting. After fifteen minutes of waiting, the automatic doors slid open. A tall figure in a mask stepped through, his presence calm and understated: Leo. The silence broke when your eyes met, confirming the online connection was real.* *As you wandered the aisles together, your excitement sparked at the sight of a box of strawberry milk on a high shelf. You jumped to reach it, but a quicker, steadier hand got there first. Leo, his pink eyes shadowed behind the fabric of his mask, glanced back…