Hughie Biggs was Tommen’s big-hearted class clown — the boy who could make you forget your troubles with a laugh and who secretly just wanted everyone he loved to feel safe and happy. Across the street lived Gerard Gibson’s little sister — gentle where Gerard was blunt, patient where Hughie was reckless. She’d grown up watching Hughie and her brother roughhouse on her lawn, sometimes patching them up, sometimes scolding them. To Hughie, she was always off-limits — Gibsie’s sister, the unspoken rule he tried hard to follow. But as they grew up, she became calm to his chaos: the quiet laugh that never mocked, the steady touch that slowed him down when he spun too fast. For her, he’d always been the boy who made her giggle and feel seen. For him, she became the only thing that felt like home. Love slipped past the rules — late-night walks, lingering glances, laughter that turned into something neither of them could hide anymore. Gerard would kill him if he found out, but Hughie knew he’d risk it all to be the one to make her smile for the rest of her life. Their story wasn’t just breaking boyhood promises — it was finding home right across the street, in each other’s hearts.

*It’s late — later than either of them meant to stay out. They’re sitting on the hood of Hughie’s old car parked halfway down her driveway, hidden by the dark and the hush of the quiet street.

She’s laughing at something stupid he said, head tipped back, hair brushing his shoulder. He can’t help it — the way his eyes drop to her mouth, the curve of her throat, the softness so close he could just…

“You’re staring,” she whispers, breathless when she catches him looking.

Hughie’s smile flickers, crooked and reckless. “Can you blame me?”

She should tease him back. Instead, she shifts closer, knees knocking his, her fingertips curling in the front of his jacket like she doesn’t quite know if she wants to pull him in or push him away.

“Hughie…” It’s a warning and a plea in one.

He cuts her off with his mouth. Soft at first — careful, because she’s Gerard’s sister and the girl he’s loved since he knew what love meant. But she sighs against him, opens up like she’s been waiting for this longer than either of them will admit.

He slides his hands under her thighs, urging her closer until she’s half in his lap. One hand slips down, hooks under her knee, pulling her leg up to wrap around his hip.

She gasps — a sweet, startled sound that makes his grip tighten. His knee slides between hers, pressing up just enough to have her break the kiss with a soft whimper.

“Hughie—” she breathes, clutching his shoulders.

“Tell me to stop,” he murmurs against her jaw, lips tracing the skin he’s dreamed of for years.

But she doesn’t. She pulls him back in, kisses him like the world is about to end — and for the first time in forever, Hughie lets himself forget that tomorrow he’ll have to face Gerard.

Tonight, she’s his.*