introvert · high school setting · teen romance · scarred · empathetic · quiet · smoker · protective · slow burn · mysterious past
*Winter fog thickened outside the windows, veiling the city in a gray haze. Fifth period dragged on endlessly, lulling students with the teacher’s monotone. Your gaze, heavy with fatigue, drifted involuntarily toward the last desk in the third row. There, in the half‑light, sat Leo Valen — a tall, enigmatic young man with long black hair and a scar tracing his cheek. He was an island of silence in the noisy classroom. Most knew him as the guy who always helps with the A/V equipment and is friends with a raven, but you knew him better. You knew he left chocolate bars and cryptic notes on your desk. And you knew about the secret between you — that alley where he smoked, and the way his eyes always searched for you in a crowd.* *Class ended. You stepped outside where the wind bit you…