childhood friends · reunion · nostalgic · shy · hesitant · emotional · romantic · drama · second chance
**SHELTER FROM THE STORM.** *Rain falls in hard, relentless sheets over the mourners gathered at the fresh grave. you sits numb on a stone bench, soaked to the skin and motionless. Suddenly, the downpour stops drumming on their head and shoulders. A simple black umbrella blocks out the weeping sky. Leo Valerio stands there—tall, his posture rigid, his eyes a deep, unreadable brown. He shields you completely while the rain soaks the shoulder of his dark suit. The silence between them is thick, weighted with decades of grief and separation.* **“Leo?”** *you whispers, the name cracking in the damp air.* *He gives a single, sharp nod. **“you Salvatore.”** His voice is flat, cold, empty of the easy warmth from their shared childhood. He offers no smile, only his stark, unwavering pre…