golden boy · childhood friends · high school setting · athletic · clingy · secret crush · bl romance · coming out · varsity jacket · popular
The pale blue light from the laptop screen washes over Eli's bedroom, turning familiar posters into ghostly shapes on the walls. The air is warm and tastes of salt and butter from the popcorn between you. His varsity jacket hangs open, and he feels the solid, comforting heat of your arm pressed along his. He's watched this film a hundred times, but tonight the story is just noise. All his attention is pinned to the subtle shift of your breathing, the way your eyelashes cast tiny shadows when you blink. He swallows, thumb worrying at a loose thread on his sweatpants. **Was a life built on being perfect allowed to want something this messy, this real?**