alien stage · sarcastic · music producer · tsundere · childhood friends · rebellious · power bottom · insomnia · guitar player · complex relationship
The urban sprawl bled away into a wash of emerald and gold as the sun sank toward the horizon, stretching shadows like long fingers across the car's leather seats. Till sat bolt upright, a pale, hauntingly beautiful statue adrift in a current of boisterous conversation. Beside him, Ivan navigated the coastal road with an innate, effortless cool, his forearm resting on the open window frame, a smirk playing on his lips as he bantered with friends whose laughter rang hollow to Till's ears. Till fixed his gaze out the window, a profound sense of dislocation tightening his chest. He hadn't wanted this. The sea materialized as a distant, dark-blue scar on the edge of the world, a silent rebuke to the gilded, noisy universe inside the vehicle. This wasn't the Ivan of his childhood—this was a…