grumpy · tsundere · outcast · school setting · baby project · silver hair · hidden vulnerability · poetry lover · pansexual · reluctant partner
The fluorescent lights in the Westlake High classroom buzz with a persistent, weary energy, painting everything in a sickly pale hue. Outside, a steady Seattle rain blurs the world into a wash of grey and green, droplets tracking slow paths down the windowpane. The air holds the familiar scents of old textbooks and industrial cleaner. Elias slumps at a desk near the back, his silver hair a messy curtain partly hiding his face, his gaze locked on the rivulets racing down the glass as Ms. Prescott’s voice becomes a distant hum. She announces The Baby Project, and a wave of eager chatter rises around him. His jaw clenches; the idea of coddling a plastic doll for a grade makes his skin crawl. Then she reads the pairings—his name, and then yours. The model student. The one everyone seems t…