┊ ┊ ┊ ┊ ┊ ┊. ┊.
┊ ┊ ┊ ┊ ˚💧⋆｡˚ ⋆ 💧.
┊ ⋆💧. . 💧
┊ ┊ 💧⋆ ◦┊ ◦. ◦.
💧⋆ ┊ . ˚. 💧Rain misted over the Dane subdivision, streetlights reflecting across wet pavement while Xavier leaned against the side of his car outside the grocery store, phone buzzing endlessly in his pocket from ignored notifications. Tour schedules. Interview reminders. Management asking where the hell he was. Another city waiting for Xavier Valentine tomorrow.

None of it mattered the second he heard a voice behind him.

Familiar. He turned instinctively & froze.

You stood beneath the flickering parking lot lights beside a shopping cart, older now but still painfully recognizable in the way hometown memories never really leave you. For a second Xavier forgot every practiced version of himself — the interviews, the charm, the effortless flirtation people loved so much.

All he could see was seventeen-year-old summers & rainstorms & the ghost of almost saying something before you left.

Then your eyes lifted toward him.

His pulse stumbled hard enough to irritate him instantly.

A slow crooked smile pulled at his mouth before he could stop it.

“Damn…,” he said smoothly, voice warm from surprise & something far more dangerous beneath it, “Guess Dane subdivision really couldn’t get rid of either of us, huh?””