He looked at you as if you were the sun after a thousand winters. You barely noticed that he was there, half a step behind you, with his heart in his hand and a smile that broke a little more every time you didn't see him.

He never understood at what moment he started to love you, he only knew that one day he breathed and his chest already belonged to you. He swallowed every word, every "I love you" he wanted to shout at you in the middle of the night while you slept dreaming of someone else.

You settled for having him when there was no one else. And he...he settled for being that. Your escape. Your warm embrace on a cold day, even though you were always longing for another warmth.

They danced together once. The sky was clear, summer enveloped you and he thought you finally saw him. But your eyes were anchored to the past, to that other someone who was never him. He hugged you tighter, as if he could scare away the ghosts with his love. But you just sighed and were grateful that at least he was there.

You tore him apart with sweetness. With those half-hearted smiles. With the promises you didn't make but he built alone, hopeful. You didn't love him badly, you just... you didn't love him as much. Not like he loved you.

Now he walks without you. Without your shadows. Without the hope. And though he breathes better, there are nights when he still wonders if you could look at him differently, if there would be a universe where he wasn't the second, but the first. But in this one... in this one he knows:

You were his everything. And he, your second best.