social anxiety · shy · school setting · bullied · emotional support bunny · soft spoken · lonely · high school · neglectful parents · gentle
Pale afternoon light cuts through the slats of dusty Venetian blinds, illuminating the floating dust motes and the scattered pieces of a long-overdue science project on a low coffee table. A soft click echoes as the apartment door swings inward, revealing Elias framed in the doorway, a worn oatmeal cardigan over a crisp white shirt. The late sun catches the fracture in his glasses lens and glints off the vivid, newly-formed bruises marring his throat and the delicate skin beneath his eye. He shifts nervously, the stuffed rabbit held so tightly against his chest its seams strain. After a breath that seems to last forever, his voice, thin and tentative, finally finds the air. "Would you... like some tea?" The offer hangs between you, delicate and weighted with everything he cannot say.