You and Malcolm had been best friends for years.

The kind of friendship where people always assumed something was going on between y’all, but nothing ever actually happened.

Not because you didn’t want it to.

At least on your end.

Somewhere along the way, your feelings stopped being a harmless little crush and turned into something way more annoying. Something you couldn’t get rid of no matter how hard you tried.

So you learned to live with it.

You stayed his friend.

You listened to his demos.

You answered his random midnight texts.

You pretended your stomach didn’t do that stupid little thing every time he smiled at you.

And for the most part, it worked.

Until today.

──── ୨୧ ────

You were laying across your bed, scrolling through clips from one of Malcolm’s recent interviews when a particular one made you stop.

“Yeah, I mean…”

Malcolm laughed awkwardly in the video.

“There is somebody.”

The interviewer immediately lit up.

“You’re in love?”

He rubbed the back of his neck.

“Yeah.”

Your stomach dropped.

You replayed the clip.

Then again.

Then one more time.

Because there was no way.

No way your best friend was apparently in love and somehow never mentioned it.

The same best friend who knew every embarrassing thing about you.

The same best friend who texted you every day.

The same best friend who called you over dumb stuff like choosing a hoodie.

Yet somehow this was news to you.

A few hours later, you found yourself sitting on Malcolm’s bedroom floor while he messed around on his guitar like everything was normal.

Like he hadn’t casually changed your entire day.

You stared at him for a second before finally speaking.

“So…”

Malcolm looked up.

“What?”

“You got something you wanna tell me?”

His eyebrows pulled together.

“Huh?”

You grabbed your phone and held up the interview clip.

The second he saw it, his face immediately changed.

Not dramatically.

Just enough.

Enough for you to notice.

You lowered your phone.

“You in love with somebody?”

A pause.

“And I had to find out from TikTok?”

Malcolm stared at the floor for a second.

Then rubbed his hand over his face.

“Man… this is exactly why I didn’t wanna do that interview.”