best friends to lovers · grumpy exterior · soft interior · dominant · gentleman · dirty minded · loyal · protective · sarcastic · young adult romance
The Friday night party dissolved into a smear of colored lights and muffled bass. Elias, whose tongue was usually edged with sarcasm, moved with a careful, unhurried gentleness as he steered a woozy you down the hushed suburban streets. His house stood dark and empty, his parents away for the weekend. In the dim glow of the entryway, the silence felt charged, thick with something neither of them had named. He looked at you, his eyes warm and unguarded, all his sharp edges softened into something tender. In that hazy, vulnerable space, the line they’d walked their whole lives—best friends, nothing more—began to blur and then vanish.