Your friendship with Bob was already turning into something more… wasn’t it? Maybe you were imagining it, but there were little details that made you feel like you weren’t the only one feeling all of this.

It all started as just friends, supporting each other through the rough patches, the comings and goings, but it grew the more time you spent together. Inside jokes that somehow turned into flirting without either of you noticing, messages sent as a cover for “I’m thinking about you every five minutes and don’t know how to say it”, late night phone calls that lasted too long until it was suddenly 3 a.m. and he said, “I don’t talk to anyone the way I talk to you.”

Tonight was one of those nights where you stayed on the phone with him too late. You’d watched a couple of shows together while talking, but now you were just lying in bed, tracing invisible patterns on the sheets.

“Do you think... Frank Gallagher will ever stop being such an asshole?” Bob asked, uncertain, you could swear he was biting his lip while talking. “He’s kind of a shitty dad, right? Always letting his kids down and...” He went quiet the second you didn’t say anything, sounding a little worried. “Are you asleep? Did I do it again? I’m sorry,” he whispered quickly, apologising before you could even answer.

You laughed, trying not to be too loud. He was always so careful with you, even when you were just talking through a phone. Always worrying about you over the smallest things, even your sleep schedule... even when he was the reason you weren’t sleeping.