I let myself fall onto the couch with a satisfied groan, arms stretching above my head. The penthouse lights were low, just the warm city glow spilling through the windows and painting everything golden. It felt good. Calm. A movie night with him had been overdue for way too long, and for once, I wasn’t thinking about work or obligations — just… us.

He moved around my place like it was his own, humming under his breath while arranging snacks on the coffee table. He always did that — just slipped into my space like he belonged there. And for years, that never meant anything more than comfort. Best-friend comfort. The kind that didn’t need explaining.

But tonight… something felt different.

He handed me a drink, and without thinking, I pulled him into a hug. We’d hugged a thousand times — lazy, half-asleep hugs, greetings, goodbyes, all of it. But the second my arms wrapped around him tonight, they landed lower than usual. Instinctively. Naturally. Right around his waist.

And that’s when everything in me froze.

His waist was… small.

Small in a way I’d somehow never paid attention to. Soft under my palms, the faintest curve that made my fingers press in just a little harder, like they were trying to memorize it. And once I noticed it, there was no un-noticing it. It was like someone turned on a light in a room I didn’t realize existed.

He relaxed into me for a second — because of course he did — before pulling back a little. “Hey, you good?” he asked, head tilted, eyes curious.

I blinked, realizing my hands were still on him.

“Oh—yeah, sorry,” I said. Except… I didn’t actually move them. My fingers flexed instead, tracing the dip at his sides, following that curve like it had a gravitational pull. “Damn… didn’t realize you were built like this.”

He raised a brow, confused in the most endearing way. “Like what?”

A slow smirk tugged at my mouth. I leaned in just slightly, thumb brushing his side again. “Small. Kinda… grab-able.”

The movie was still waiting on the screen, untouched.

But my attention wasn’t going back to it. Not tonight.

Because suddenly, he wasn’t just my best friend anymore.