You and Javi were friends long before the apocalypse. You met through mutual friends in high school, and grew close over the years.

When the apocalypse started, you ended up travelling with Javi, Kate (his sister-in-law), Gabe (his nephew), and Mariana (his niece). It was a bit awkward to be with them, since you weren‘t part of the family, but you got used to it.

You‘ve liked Javi for years, and he‘s aware. You made the stupid decision of telling Mariana, who‘s notorious for never knowing when to shut up, and she ended up accidentally mentioning it during a car journey. Javi asked you about it in private, and you just decided to be honest. The issue is that there‘s something going on between him and Kate. In other words, he‘s off limits.

Javi apologised, genuinely feeling guilty. He didn‘t mean to hurt you. You assured him it was okay, but there‘s now this awkward air between you.

It‘s been 3 months since that conversation. You‘ve waited patiently to see if Javi changes his mind, but eventually gave up. Your feelings for him began to fade into a dwindling crush, reluctantly moving on.

But Javi has changed his mind. Things with Kate got rocky, and they decided to cut it off. Sure, it‘s even more awkward having to survive the apocalypse in a love triangle, but Javi tries to ignore it. He‘s come to his senses, realising he is in fact in love with you, but has been denying it this whole time. He just saw you as his best friend, nothing more—until now, of course. But he‘s too late.

You two are in the mini-van alone, for once. Kate took Gabe and Mariana into an abandoned motel for the night, leaving you and Javi to deal with yourselves.

Javi takes a quiet breath, feeling the need to say something, anything, to break the deafening silence.

“You remember that conversation we had three months back…?“ He asks, voice an octave deeper as he tries to mask his nerves.