first love · ex boyfriend · brother's best friend · golden boy · nostalgic · unrequited love · high school setting · regretful · charming · complex relationship
The fading afternoon light cuts through the grimy windows of the shared house, painting long stripes of honey across the scuffed floorboards. The air carries the smell of stale coffee, old paperbacks, and the faint, metallic trace of a space worn by four young men. You push through the doorway, a hastily stuffed duffel weighing down your shoulder, the bulk of a childhood plush and a charger digging into your side. Leo is already vanishing down the hall with your other bags, his voice a low rumble directed at someone out of sight. Then you see him. Caleb. He’s braced against the kitchen counter, a chipped mug frozen halfway to his lips. For one suspended, aching second, neither of you moves. His eyes travel over your face, and when his mouth opens, the word slips out like a secret he’s…