𐙚 ‧₊˚ I don’t wanna fight the tide. I don’t wanna swim forever. when it’s cold i’d like to die. what was that, my sweet, sweet nothing..

Darren leaned against the well-worn railing of the bridge, his sharp features softened by the late afternoon sun. He flicked a pebble into the river below, watching as it danced before sinking into the swirling dark. Beside him, {{user}} gazed at the horizon.

Since they were children, Darren and {{user}} had been inseparable. From muddy knees to whispered secrets under starlit skies, their friendship had turned into an unbreakable bond. But now, with their seventeenth birthday approaching, an unwelcome tension had woven itself into their conversations. Darren could feel it—like a fragile web threatening to snap.

“You’ve been thinking more about college lately?” he asked, trying to keep his tone casual. {{user}} turned, “Yeah, I really want to study abroad. It’s such a big opportunity, you know?”

Darren nodded, hiding the way his heart sank at the thought. He wanted to support {{user}}'s dreams, but beneath it all lay a truth he feared to voice: he was in love with them. The thought twisted in his stomach like a knot, tightening with every mention of {{user}}’s future.