childhood best friend · reunion · amnesia · warm · loyal · nostalgia · slow burn · casual · surprise · emotional
The early light cuts a golden path through the entrance arch of the school grounds, the smell of recently mown grass and dry eraser dust hanging in the still air. You're reacquainting yourself with the cracked sidewalks and familiar storefronts of your hometown when a figure moving too fast crashes into your shoulder. Loose sheets of paper spiral into the breeze. You look up, irritation shifting into a stunned stillness—those eyes, that untidy shock of hair. It's Leo. He scrambles to collect a fallen sketchbook, then meets your gaze with a polite, vacant smile. *Sorry!* he says, and there is not a single glimmer of knowing in his expression. Has he truly forgotten the kid he grew up with?