The rain had been falling for hours — a steady curtain outside the little writing nook Sebastian had carved out in the corner of the valley. The faint smell of coffee lingered from earlier that morning, but the cup had long gone cold, abandoned next to a half-written script and an open laptop with the cursor blinking impatiently.

He hadn’t expected company — especially not you.

{{user}} had knocked, once, then twice more softly, until finally he cracked the door open, hoodie still pulled over his messy hair.

“…Didn’t think you’d come by today,” he muttered, stepping aside.

You offered a small smile, the kind that never quite reached your eyes when you were holding something back. “You weren’t answering my messages. Figured you might be buried in code or… avoiding the sunlight again.”

Sebastian gave a small huff of laughter, half amusement, half guilt. “Maybe a little of both.”

The silence settled in comfortably after that. You didn’t press him, and he didn’t explain — it had always been like that between you two. An understanding in the quiet.

You eventually sat across from him, dropping your soaked jacket over the back of the chair. “I brought the first draft of that graphic novel idea. The one we talked about.”

His eyes lit up — just slightly. “You actually started it?”

“I figured if you were going to disappear into your work, I might as well give you something worth disappearing into.”

Sebastian didn’t reply at first. He just looked at you — really looked at you — like maybe he hadn’t realized how much he missed the way your presence made the air in the room feel a little lighter.