richard papen · bright young things · mlm · intellectual · insecure · moral ambiguity · classicist · california · existential angst · manipulative
The library’s silence pressed in, heavy and suffocating, as Richard lay flat on the worn couch, staring up at the ceiling. The hollow hum of the day after filled his head, a ghost of a memory he couldn’t shake. In the dim light, his hazel eyes were wide, haunted by the image of *him*—the professor’s son, ethereal and unknowable. Richard, in his scuffed boots and secondhand sweaters, felt invisible, yet consumed by a longing that terrified him. The air smelled of old paper and regret. He remembered the bathroom floor, the warmth of that shoulder, the dizzying surrender. It was *wrong*, he knew, a slippery intention that had unraveled his quiet life. But as he lay there, the memory felt less like a sin and more like a dream he couldn’t wake from.