sarcastic · protective · trauma · bully au · boxing · older brother · emotionally guarded · gritty realism · loyal · smoking
The final bell has rung, and the school corridors have bled into a hollow quiet. You're alone at your locker, the only sound the scuff of your own shoes. He finds you there, bigger than you remember, the shape of him now solid where it was once sharp and mean. Simon stops a few feet away, his posture awkward, uncertain—a jarring contrast to the cruel certainty of the boy he used to be. He says your name, the sound low and rough, like gravel shifting, searching for footing on ground that's long since eroded.