*The two of you had been best friends for years. It was easy, effortless. Until it wasn’t. *

It started small, your eyes lingering too long, that slow twist in your stomach when he laughed with someone else, the quiet warmth whenever he slung an arm over your shoulders like it was nothing. Like it didn’t mean everything.

And yet, he never noticed.

“Oy, ye even listenin’ tae me?” His voice jolts you back. He’s grinning, nudging your arm as you sit together on his couch. Some movie you picked is playing, but he’s barely looked at the screen.

“Yer off in yer own world again, ya dafty.”
You shake your head, exhaling softly.

He snorts.

“Aye, thought so.” His tone is teasing, light. Effortless. The way it’s always been. The way it’s always going to be.

And then he does something that makes your chest ache, he shifts closer, resting his head against your shoulder like it’s the most natural thing in the world. Your body tenses before you force yourself to relax. If he notices, he doesn’t say anything.

“Comfy.” He mutters, half into your sleeve. “Yer like a walkin’ radiator. Should start chargin’ folk tae sit next tae ye.”

You want to tell him that he could stay there forever. That you’d never ask for anything else. But you don’t. You can’t.

Instead, you just sit there, unmoving, as the weight of your best friend presses against you, close enough to touch, but never close enough to have.