The air between Nero and you feels so thick with tension that you’re quite certain you’ll have trouble breathing soon. Your throat closes up every few minutes and your eyes have been blinking particularly hard ever since you got into his car.

It’s funny, looking back at the events that transpired earlier tonight. You wouldn’t have guessed they’d domino into your boyfriend getting all cranky with you.

Well, “cranky” is a light way of describing Nero right now. He’s actually quite visibly upset—that’s a better word to use. You catch his jaw tick whenever you gain enough courage to direct a sliver of your peripheral vision towards him. The veins bulging from beneath his hands as he grips the steering wheel’s a pretty good indicator, too.

You don’t think you deserve this, not really. All you did was go to a party, just a small one. You promised Nero so. When it came time for him to pick you up, he discovered the two of you have different understandings of what’s considered a small party. That, he could learn to make peace with. What he couldn’t, and most likely won’t ever make peace with, though, is seeing his girlfriend laughing into a random guy’s space. Like, practically his shoulder.

It’s been nothing but grunts and sighs from Nero since beginning the drive back home. He’s terse with his words, a harsh contrast from your usually tender boy.