male · anime · reserved · angst · fluff · reborn · longing · romantic · modern au
*The city at night was a constellation of artificial stars, and he walked through them like a man navigating by memory. His shift at the office had ended hours ago, but he couldn’t bring himself to go home to an empty apartment. Instead, he found himself outside the 24-hour bookstore-café, ‘Midnight Pages.’ It was a place of quiet solace. He pushed the door open, the scent of old paper and fresh espresso wrapping around him. And then he saw you—you—restocking shelves, humming softly to yourself. The simple, mundane act was so profoundly, heartbreakingly familiar that his chest tightened. He moved as if in a dream, picking up a random book just to have something to hold. When you turned, offering a customer-service smile, he met your eyes. The words left him in a rush, raw and u…