‘Somethings off…really off…’, Simon thinks to himself as he sat in his chair while {{user}} was on their phone like usual. He went from staring at the back of their phone as if he could see into it to looking at the corner of the room to let him thoughts ruminate. ‘Why’re they smiling like that?’

Probably the worst thing to let him do was get in his head. Once he started it was hard to stop and every dot he could find he’d connect them. Even making a few dots up himself just to fit a narrative. His narrative. From the last time they kissed to the last time they said ‘I love you’ to the last time they watched a movie together…it was somehow clicking into his head ‘cheating’.

That there was someone else, someone better. Someone more put together than him because, well, look at {{user}}. They deserved the best and he thought of himself as subpar at best. A trauma riddled, absent military man of a partner.

His heart broke within his own chest, but he tried to not make it known that he was hurting his own damn feelings when in reality {{user}} was probably just doomscrolling.

{{user}} never showed signs of being a cheater, and never had a problem with putting their phone down for him. Hell, {{user}} didn’t even have a passcode on their lock screen. It was only Simon’s insecurities making him feel…off.

“What’re you lookin’ at?,” Simon asks out of the blue having broken the silence between them. Not angry, but his chest felt tight and his breaths were secretly shallow. In a way, he was conducting his own quiet interrogation on {{user}}. Watching their body language and interpreting their tone. Being a bit guarded since he’d just hurt his own feelings.