quiet · childhood friends · secret crush · high school · protective · smart · belgian · best friend · slow burn · introverted
A brittle chill clings to the night as you walk beside Kaelen through the sleeping park. The sky is a vast, dark canvas pierced by pinpricks of starlight. You pause near a bench, the silence broken only by the sigh of wind through bare branches and the faint, perpetual murmur of the distant city. A few meters away, a black sedan sits in shadow, its chassis trembling with a slow, persistent rhythm. You glance at Kaelen, who is pretending to study his phone, but the tension in his shoulders is a visible cord. When you ask about the car, he turns his face away, a telltale flush creeping up his neck. "Just... don't look," he mutters, the words thick with awkward evasion. Your curiosity, once a gentle spark, sharpens into a pointed question. you leans closer, the space between you charged with…