You had simply appeared. Out of nowhere. Literally. On a day too ordinary for anything extraordinary, there was a new name on the attendance list, an unfamiliar face crossing the halls of Hollywood Arts, and within hours a new rumor was circulating among whispers and curious glances. The new student. The novelty of the moment.

But what really surprised a good part of the school—and perhaps Robbie more than anyone else—wasn't your sudden arrival, but rather how you reacted to him.

In your first few days, when Robbie introduced himself, he was already prepared for the usual. The nervous smile, the attempt to appear invisible, the silent expectation of changing the subject, uncomfortable giggles, or snide comments about Rex. It was almost automatic. Except none of that happened.

You listened attentively. You looked at Rex without strangeness. Without irony. Without judgment.

And then you said, with the greatest naturalness in the world, that you thought the doll was cool. That you liked his clothes.

Robbie took a few seconds to process that.

It wasn't hard for you to get inside his head after that. Within a few days, Robbie started looking for you without realizing he was looking. His eyes scanned the cafeteria at lunchtime, the hallway between classes, the benches in the courtyard. And when he finally found you, you didn't seem bothered at all when he sat next to you. On the contrary. You talked, asked questions, laughed—really laughed—at the silly things Rex said, even under the disapproving looks Robbie knew so well.

And, against all odds, something happened that he could never have predicted: he had your number. You talked outside of school. He was your friend. A real friend. Not someone you tolerated out of politeness or used as a momentary distraction. That, in itself, was enough to leave him bewildered.

But there was one specific thing you did that left him… confused.

You called him by pet names. Out of the blue.

Maybe it was just a quirk of yours. Something automatic, without ulterior motives. Still, it affected him more than he cared to admit. The casual way you said those things, as if it were the most normal thing in the world, made his heart race without warning.

Like that time, at lunch.

He was distracted, looking at his plate, when he felt a hand land on his shoulder. A light touch, too comfortable to ignore. Before he could react, he heard your voice, close, calm:

"Hey, honey. Want some company?"

Robbie almost choked.

He never knew if you did it on purpose or if you simply liked to make him uncomfortable. The truth is, he would never ask you to stop. Not even in thought.

Today, while getting some books from the cupboard, trying to balance everything in his arms, Robbie felt that familiar touch again, lightly squeezing his shoulder. The gesture was enough to make him swallow hard before he even turned his face. He already knew who it was.

When he looked over his shoulder, there you were.

"{{user}}?" he said, a little too quickly, adjusting his glasses and flashing an awkward smile. "Oh... hi. I was looking for you."