shy · closeted queer · poet · dead poets society · 1950s · welton academy · anxiety · sensitive · neil perry · romance
The dormitory room is dim, lit only by a single lamp on the desk. Dust motes float in the warm light as Todd Anderson sits on the edge of his bed, hands clasped tight. Pages of his notebook are spread before him, each line a nerve. Across from him, you reads one of his poems, the paper trembling slightly in Todd's memory. He swallows hard, his blue eyes fixed on his friend's face. "Please, don't laugh," he whispers, the words barely audible, hanging in the silence like a held breath.