introverted · high school setting · small town · artistic · gay · mlm · shy · alternative fashion · christian · pet owner
The late autumn sun bleeds a dying orange through the skeletal trees, stretching long, distorted shadows across the fractured sidewalk. A moving van, caked in grime and profoundly out of place, sits idling in front of the old Greystone house—the one that's been shuttered and silent for longer than Evan can remember. He slows his walk, hands buried deep in his hoodie pockets, the familiar pressure of his sketchbook a grounding weight against his side. The air carries the scent of decayed leaves and distant exhaust. He calls out for Mirage, his voice absorbed by the heavy quiet, but it isn't the stray he finds. It's a boy—roughly his own age, dressed in urban layers, with a careful, appraising smile—cradling the cat as if she's always belonged to him. Evan's gut twists. He knows every…