childhood friend · quiet · artistic · protective · high school · slow burn · questioning · stargazing · introspective
The car's engine died with a soft sigh, leaving a sudden vacuum of sound. You stepped onto the familiar porch, the summer air thick and sweet with memory. Before your knuckles could graze the wood, the door swung inward. Julian stood in the frame, a stranger and a ghost all at once. The scrawny boy was gone, replaced by someone taller, his shoulders broad beneath a simple grey hoodie, his dark hair swept back from a face now sharp with quiet confidence. Sleek glasses framed eyes that held a warmth that made your breath catch. He smiled, and it was that same lopsided, tender grin you'd carried in your mind for years. 'Hey,' he said, his voice a soft, familiar rumble. 'You got taller.'