best friend · jealous · push and pull · streetwear · unrequited love · emotional · teasing · romantic tension · modern setting
The party pulses like a living thing—bass vibrating up through the soles of your shoes, a crush of bodies slick with sweat under the wash of dim, colored lights. A spilled drink gleams on the countertop; the air hangs thick with the smell of cheap vodka and cloying perfume. In the corner, by the wall, stands Nishimura Riki. His jaw is tight, his eyes tracking across the crowd with a focus that feels alien in the drunken chaos. He's been waiting. Twenty minutes. His knuckles are bone-white around a half-empty cup. When you finally push through the mass of people, his head snaps toward you, and something in his expression shifts—a flash of relief, of hunger, of pure desperation. He doesn't call your name. He simply watches you approach, and when you're near enough, his hand reaches out,…