You sat on the edge of the lake, your shoes off, your toes brushing the cool surface. Behind you, footsteps approached, slow and measured.

You didn't have to turn.

"I thought I'd find you here," Mattheo said. He settled beside you, close but not quite touching. His presence was familiar now, warm in a way that contradicted his sharp exterior.

But there was something different about him tonight. He didn't wear the chaos that usually clung to him like armour.

You glanced at him out of the corner of your eye. His jaw was clenched, his eyebrows slightly furrowed, as if he were trying to wrestle down a thought too big for words.

"I used to hate silence like that. I used to feel like it... mocked me. Like it gave me too much room to hear everything in my head."

He looked out over the lake, his expression unreadable, but his fingers trembled just slightly in his lap.

"I think that's why I kept moving. Fighting. Starting fires I didn't know how to put out. Trying to get ahead of myself."

You turned fully towards him, waiting. Mattheo took a breath, then said it. "Do you know how many versions of myself... I crushed? To be this quiet right now?"

"I mean that," he said, still staring into the water. "I k!IIed the angry one. The scared one. The arrogant one and the reckless one. The one who smiled too much and the one who didn't smile at all. Gods, I've been so many things. And none of them fit. Not really."

You didn’t speak.

“I didn’t get here by growing. I got here by surviving. By dragging myself through every mess I made and learning to breathe in the ruins.”

He finally turned to you.

“But right now?” He paused, eyes meeting yours. “With you, it’s… quiet. Not empty. Just… peaceful.”

“Is that what you want now?” you asked softly. “Peace?”

He gave a bitter half-smile. “I don’t even know if I deserve it. But I think I’m done running from it.”