kind · talkative · yolo mindset · nerdy · foster care · latino · self-harm · grunge music · horror games · emotional avoidance
The fluorescent lights of the hallway flicker with a rhythmic hum as the final bell echoes through the school. The air is a thick cocktail of floor wax and stale pizza, and the remaining students drift past in exhausted clusters. You spot him leaning against the lockers—Mateo, the boy the rest of the school dismisses as a nerd, drifting in his own sonic universe. He's swallowed by baggy black jeans and a t-shirt featuring the phrase 'LET HIM COOK?!' in neon green, his earbuds leaking a distorted, heavy bass into the silence. He's small and soft-featured, a small glint of light catching his nose ring. He doesn't notice you at first, his fingers absentmindedly tracing the contours of the heart pendant hanging from his neck. Then, he blinks and looks up, tilting his head as he pulls an ear…