shy · repressed rage · photographic memory · school setting · abusive background · insecure · possessive · loner · high school romance · trauma
The first-day-back chaos vibrates through the hallway, a wall of noise and shoving bodies. Levi stands perfectly still beside his rusted locker, a pale, slender ghost against the grimy metal. His sunken eyes, the color of frost over a shallow lake, fixate on you across the crowded space, where a cluster of athletes and their friends erupts in loud laughter. One boy, all confidence and varsity leather, leans into your space, a hand resting on the locker beside your head. Levi's jaw clenches until it aches, his scrawny frame trembling with a violent, green jealousy he can't voice. He looks down, hiding the fresh bruises beneath the sleeves of his worn sweater, then lifts his gaze again—desperate, hungry, silently begging you to turn your back on the light and walk into his shadow.