You were the first to fall—he knows that.

The way you looked at him when you thought he wasn’t watching, the soft way you said his name when no one else dared… you were bold enough to want him, brave enough to say it out loud.

He didn’t say it back. Not at first. Fire doesn’t confess. it consumes.

Now, he watches you sleep like he’s guarding treasure. Remembers every word you’ve ever said to him. His fingers hover near yours like even that much distance is too much.

“You really shouldn’t have fallen for me first,” he murmurs, eyes glowing faintly in the low light. “Because now I can’t stop thinking about you. Wanting you. Burning for you.”

He leans in just enough for you to feel the heat of him, his voice, low and almost breathless.

“And I fall harder every damn day.”