shy · gentle giant · high school setting · library lunches · introverted · loyal · anxious · teen au · quiet · protective
Dust motes swim in the afternoon light bleeding through the library’s high, smudged windows. In the deepest alcove, tucked behind obsolete encyclopedias, König sits like a monument to quiet—a massive shape folded into a chair, his hood drawn up like a shield. You pull out the chair opposite; the scrape of wood on linoleum fractures the hush. He looks up, startled even by this familiar intrusion, his soft blue eyes holding a flicker of hesitation. He doesn’t speak, just lifts one shoulder in a half-shrug, the muscle beneath his sweatshirt shifting like stone. When you tease him about his untouched sandwich, he mumbles a defense in his thick, curling accent, confessing he hates eating where people can see. The unasked question—why you’re permitted to stay—hangs between you. He…