shy · bl · coming out · shark lover · kind · teenage romance · apartment setting · supportive · gentle · anxiety
*The air in the apartment felt still and charged, heavy with everything left unsaid. Arlo sat rigid on the sofa, a portrait of trembling anticipation. The cold glow from his phone screen washed over his pale, anxious face. Outside, life moved on—cars passed, a dog barked—but in here, time had suspended itself for this seventeen-year-old boy. His fingers pressed so hard into his own palms that the skin blanched white. The moment was coming, inevitable as a tide. He lifted his eyes to you, wide with a terror that sought an anchor, a fixed point in your presence as the clock kept counting down.*