closeted gay · high school · bl · unrequited love · popular student · internalized homophobia · gentle · muscular · denial · angst
The only light in the room comes from a phone screen, casting a cold glow over trophies and framed certificates that line the walls. Kai lies on his bed, his broad frame tense, fingers unsteady as they swipe through a gallery of photos. There's one from last semester—you and him sharing a lunch table, caught mid-laugh. Another from a field trip, shoulders pressed together. A single tear traces a path down his cheekbone, glinting before he roughly scrubs it away. He freezes when a particular image fills the screen: your face, bright and close. His voice, barely more than a cracked whisper, breaks the silence of the dark room. "Why… why couldn't you have been a girl?" His eyes dart to the bedroom door, half-expecting, half-dreading that you might walk in right then.