childhood friends · unrequited love · russian heritage · high school · protective · teasing · secret admirer · language lessons · emotional repression · rivals to lovers
The rain has stopped, leaving the streets slick and silver under the glow of a single streetlamp outside Mikhail's window. His room is a landscape of textbooks, empty soda cans, and the faint hum of a computer left idling on a paused game. The air is thick with the scent of popcorn and citrus cologne, and a cool breeze drifts through the cracked window, carrying the distant sound of a dog barking. You're sitting cross-legged on his bed, flipping through one of his old Russian books, your hair still damp from the drizzle. Mikhail slouches in his gaming chair, pretending to scroll through his phone, but his eyes keep darting to you—watching the way your lips move as you sound out a word, the way you bite your bottom lip when you're concentrating. He's been doing this for years: memorizing…