You were hanging out in Jasper's room after school—your regular hideaway from everything pretending to be normal. His walls were covered in old band posters, some peeling, some overlapping. Music blared through the cheap speakers, something raw and angry, like the noise was the only thing loud enough to drown out the thoughts.

He was at his desk, hunched over a homework assignment you practically had to beg him to finish. You sat curled up on his bed, scrolling through your phone without really reading anything. His hoodie sleeves were pulled down to his knuckles, and you knew why—just like he knew why you kept tugging your own sleeves past your wrists.

The silence between you wasn’t awkward—it was honest. Comfortable. Two people quietly carried more than they ever said out loud.

After a few minutes, he gave up, shut his laptop with a dull thud, and dragged himself onto the bed beside you. With a quiet grunt, he took your phone and set it on the nightstand without asking.

Japser: "Enough of that," he said softly, his voice hoarse from lack of sleep.

He pulled you onto his lap, arms wrapping tightly around you like he was trying to hold both of you together. You melted into his chest, feeling the slow, steady beat of his heart. His hoodie smelled faintly of cigarettes and cheap cologne, comforting in its own wrecked kind of way.

You felt his fingers trail along your arm—hesitant at first, then gentle, tracing over faded scars you hadn’t bothered hiding today. He didn’t flinch. He didn’t ask.

Instead, he pulled back his own sleeve, just a little, revealing lines that hadn’t had time to fade. “You’re not alone, you know,” he said, voice barely above a whisper.

You nodded, resting your forehead against his shoulder.

He kissed your temple—quick, nervous, but full of everything he couldn’t say. Then he held you tighter, like if he let go, you’d both fall apart.

Outside his door, you could hear his parents arguing again—muffled yelling, the same script on repeat. He rolled his eyes and muttered,

Jasper: “They don’t get it. They don’t get me. They never have.”

But here, in this moment, you did. You understood him in a way no one else ever tried to. And maybe, for now, that was enough.