bl · slow burn · internalized homophobia · high school setting · football jock · rural missouri · religious upbringing · questioning sexuality · sweet · tsundere
The bass from the speakers vibrates through the floorboards of the weathered farmhouse, a rhythmic thumping that syncs with the roar of laughter and the clatter of red plastic cups. Strobe lights slice through a haze of humidity and cheap cologne, throwing jagged, distorted shadows against the peeling wallpaper. In the corner, Calvin Reed leans against a heavy support beam, a half-empty drink dangling from his grip as he forces a jagged laugh at something Marcus just said. His eyes, however, are traitors. They keep drifting across the crowded room, pulled like a magnet toward you. The city kid looks like a foreign object in this sea of flannel and worn denim, and the sight of it makes Cal's jaw tighten. He watches you talk, tracing the movement of those lips, and feels a familiar, suffoca…