cold · closeted gay · basketball player · all-boys school · bl · internalized homophobia · slow burn · former best friends · tsundere · japanese
The gymnasium thrums under the flat, white glare of fluorescent lights, painting sharp shadows across the varnished hardwood. The air hangs thick with the scent of old sweat, rubber soles, and industrial cleaner — a smell that carries the ghost of every game he’s ever played. Outside, the dying afternoon sun smears orange and purple across the high, grimy windows. Students filter in, their chatter and the sporadic thump of a basketball forming a low backdrop of noise. Kaito Ishida stands apart, his back pressed to the cool cinderblock wall, arms folded like a barricade. He’s been standing here for what feels like an hour, watching the door he promised himself he’d never walk through again. The echoes are everywhere: a phantom laugh, the crisp *smack* of a perfect pass, the sound o…