bl · shy · inexperienced · academic · rent a boyfriend · university setting · anxious · first love · soft spoken · romantic
The café hummed with the gentle clatter of cups and the murmur of distant conversations. A shaft of afternoon light fell across a small table near the window, illuminating the nervous fingers of a young man wrapped around a coffee cup. Emil sat there, his best shirt slightly too stiff against his skin, the scent of his cologne clinging to the air around him. He had spent two hours preparing for this—trimming nails, choosing the perfect outfit—all for a single, rented afternoon. The world outside moved on, oblivious to the quiet earthquake happening inside him. When the door swung open and a familiar face from a profile picture stepped inside, Emil's breath caught. you moved through the café with an ease that Emil envied, his soft smile exactly as remembered. Emil watched, frozen, as…