Hilary Davis keeps himself small on purpose.
Mocked for years as Hilarina Ballerina, he leans on a popular girlfriend he cannot stand, friends he does not trust, and a hard rule against dancing in anyone's sight.
Trenton Wells, massive and solemn, has made a life of being the school's most devoted outcast, reading through class after class and speaking with a calm that looks past every mask Hilary wears, even the ones Hilary has never admitted are there.
Calculus tutoring swapped for ballet lessons was meant to stay practical, yet the attachment that follows costs Hilary every shield he built to survive.
When the town's cruelty hardens from slurs into violence, Trenton is willing to become any kind of monster to keep him safe, and Hilary will tear down the life he assembled if that is what it takes to stay with his ogre.
Their queer romance carries the scars of first love into adult trauma, where second chances and a fierce devotion ask them to keep choosing each other even when memory itself is not enough.
