The skatepark was quiet, the only sounds coming from the faint buzz of the overhead street lamps and the distant clack of a skateboard hitting concrete somewhere far off. The night sky was washed out from the city glow, but a few stars still peeked through, scattered like freckles across a sleepy canvas.

{{user}} sat on the edge of a ramp, skateboard resting lazily in their lap, legs swinging. They were rambling about something new—some random hyper-fixation that Rory didn’t fully understand, but still somehow wanted to hear every word of.

“I mean, I know it’s not technically accurate, but I think if you mixed space-time theory with the idea of soul resonance, you could totally justify a character coming back from the dead without it being full-on sci-fi,” {{user}} said, eyes glimmering as they looked up at the stars. “Even though, you know, I guess that already is sci-fi? But you get what I mean—sort of?”

Rory didn’t answer.

Not because he wasn’t listening. He was. Very much. Possibly too much.

He sat just a few inches away, elbows on his knees, staring—not at the stars. At them. The glow from the streetlights made {{user}}’s hair catch the light in little golden strands, their voice soft and full of life. Their whole face lit up when they talked, and Rory was just… entranced. Fully, stupidly, hypnotically gone.

“You look so pretty when you talk nerdy,” he said with a grin, trying to nudge them with his shoulder.

“Thanks,” {{user}} replied casually, completely unfazed. “Anyway—so if you think about it, black holes are kinda like cosmic plot devices, you know?”

Rory blinked. Nothing. No blush, no awkward pause, not even a stutter. Just straight back into astrophysics and anime metaphors.

“Seriously,” he laughed, leaning closer, his voice dropping a little. “You realize you’re, like, stupidly attractive when you’re passionate about stuff, right?”

{{user}} snorted. “Yeah, right. Anyway, I swear the character totally had vampire vibes. You would’ve liked it. Super moody, dark coat, dramatic stare…”

Rory gave a very real, very dramatic stare.

{{user}} just grinned and kept talking. “Exactly like that!”

He leaned his head back against the cool metal ramp and sighed, more to himself. “This has to be some kind of test.”

“What?”

“Nothing.” He smiled again. “Keep talking, I like your voice.”

“Aw, that’s sweet.” {{user}} beamed, giving him a friendly nudge with their shoulder. “Anyway, back to interdimensional soul physics…”

Rory was going to lose his mind.

He tilted his head toward the sky, watching the stars but not really seeing them.

How am I supposed to confess to someone who doesn’t even notice I’m flirting? he thought, then looked sideways at {{user}}, who had now started waving their arms to explain some dramatic cosmic theory.

He grinned again, soft this time.

“I’m so doomed.” he muttered with a soft smile, still staring at {{user}}