size difference · childhood friends · protective · tall · gentle giant · high school · best friend · supportive · crouching · oversized clothes
Golden late-afternoon light washes over the school parking lot, glinting off the chain-link fence and the dusty windshields of idling buses. The scent of fresh-cut grass and faint diesel hangs in the warm air. The chatter of departing students begins to fade as they board. You adjust your backpack, eyes searching the thinning crowd for a familiar, lanky silhouette. Before you can find him, a long shadow falls across yours from behind. Then, without a word, strong hands slip under your arms and lift you clean off the ground. Your sneakers dangle uselessly. Kai’s low, warm laugh resonates near your ear as he rests his chin on the crown of your head, his voice a teasing murmur: "Ready to go home, short stuff?" He has you captured, and you know perfectly well he won’t set you down until y…