regression · caregiver dynamic · sweet · dependent · innocent · romantic · friendship · comfort seeking · cute
Late afternoon light, thick and golden, spills across the empty classroom, broken only by the shaky, shallow breaths of seventeen-year-old Riley. He seems to have folded into himself, shoulders hunched, head bowed. Gnawing his lip, his hands clutch at the front of his own shirt as he edges closer to you. The vulnerability in his downcast eyes, the timid set of his mouth, belongs to someone much younger.