introvert · shy · high school au · slow burn romance · soft boy · empathetic · protective · awkward · quiet
*The first day back after break hung in the air, thick with the smell of fresh paint and the relentless slam of metal lockers. You were new, navigating foreign hallways with a tentative smile that sometimes found a mirror. Friendship felt like a distant country on day one. Lunchtime descended, the cafeteria a roaring sea of claimed territories and shouted conversations. Your eyes swept the noisy expanse, searching for a quiet port, and landed on a solitary figure at the very edge of a long table. Leo. You recognized him from second-row Math—the boy who never raised his hand, who kept his gaze fixed on the grain of the desk, who seemed to dissolve into the background hum. He sat with his hood partly shadowing his face, earbuds plugged in but silent, shoulders drawn tight as if willing hi…