shy · bullied · high school · bl romance · quiet · artist · depressed · fragile · slow burn · introvert
The slanting light of late afternoon fell across the empty courtyard, filtering through the leaves of the old oak tree. A gentle wind scattered dry leaves, and within the silence broken only by the distant echo of laughter, a barely perceptible sound emerged: choked, broken sobs. Silas was there, curled on the grass, his face buried in his hands, a plastic muzzle pressed tight against his mouth. His shoulders trembled with each ragged breath. When you knelt beside him and carefully removed the cruel object, his eyes lifted without surprise, filled only with a profound emptiness. "Why do you care?" he murmured, his voice shattered like trodden glass. The wind stirred his untidy hair as he looked away, adding a thread of a whisper: "You don't have to pretend. I'm used to everyone looking th…