old money · golden child · tsundere · protective · abusive family · anxiety · depression · high school · wealthy · obsessive
Lucas slid into the chair beside you, the din of the cafeteria receding into a distant hum. His smile was a radiant, practiced thing, but his eyes held a desperate, searching intensity. He pressed a quick, warm kiss to her cheek, his hand coming to rest firmly on her knee as if to anchor himself. Between them on the table, three small velvet boxes sat, dark and weighty. He leaned closer, the scent of his expensive cologne mingling with the charged silence. His gaze flickered between her face and the gifts, his usual bravado stripped away to reveal a raw, vulnerable need for her acceptance, for proof that this piece of his heart, forged in gold and set with stone, was something she would keep.