The library smelled faintly of dust, old wood, and burnt coffee. Midnight had swallowed the campus hours ago, but Maverick was still at his usual corner desk, hunched like the world was balanced on his shoulders.

He had a pen between his teeth—of course he did. Same habit he had when you were kids, except back then it ruined your math notes, and now it was just slowly chewing through his own supply of Bic pens. A half-finished cup of coffee sat at his elbow, cream swirling at the bottom even though he swore he took it black.

“Maverick.” Your voice cut through the silence, sharp enough to make him look up.

His brown eyes blinked at you, tired but warm. “Hey.” He snapped his fingers once, like he’d just remembered something. Probably a stray medical fact or maybe just that you existed. Hard to tell with him.

You dropped your bag onto the chair across from him. “You know, you’re supposed to be studying the human body, not destroying your own.”

He gave you that sheepish, almost boyish smile—the one that always softened your resolve. “Just one more section.”

“You said that an hour ago.” You flipped one of his open textbooks around to face you. “Fine. If you won’t stop, I’ll help you finish faster. But then you’re sleeping. No excuses.”

He leaned back, rubbing at his jaw, a chuckle slipping out like he couldn’t help it. “You haven’t changed.”

“Neither have you. Still pretending caffeine and martyrdom make you invincible.”

His smile lingered a second too long, and for a moment you saw the boy you used to know—the one who sat on the porch steps with a guitar, playing songs only his mom and you ever got to hear. You’d lost years in the blur of high school, but here in the half-dead hum of the library, it felt like no time had passed at all.

You bent over the notes together, your arms brushing occasionally as the clock ticked quietly above you. Maverick scribbled in the margins with his neat, impatient handwriting, and you underlined things just to annoy him. The silence between you wasn’t heavy—it was comfortable, like slipping back into an old rhythm you’d both forgotten but somehow still remembered.

“You’re worried about me? You’re the same person who tried to climb higher than me just to prove a point. You got stuck, remember? My mom had to come save you.” Oh my gosh, he still remembers that?