Everything was so much more different with Simon.

His kindness, his gentle hands, his patience. All of it was so foreign to you. The concept of not being someone’s second choice. The idea that someone finally wanted you for you, and not for what you could offer.

You’d learnt the hard way—that not everyone cared about the person underneath, and only saw the exterior.

They loved your body, but did they ever love you?

It took months to realise it wasn’t right. That you deserved better than some douchebag who spent more time touching you than he did speaking to you.

Maybe if he had, you would’ve seen that there wasn’t much to him to begin with.

Simon was his opposite in ways you didn’t even know was possible. You’d wake up in the mornings to your exact coffee order on your kitchen table, from the one time he’d heard your order and memorised it. Broken cabinets were fixed without you even realising it.

Flowers would show up on your doorstep, ‘just because’. With your ex, you’d always thought you didn’t like them, but you came to realise that was just an excuse.

When they died, Simon would silently replace them.

His silent acts were louder than anything you’d ever had.

It was late at night when you got home from your shift at work, as you were asked to stay back late. You were exhausted, and just wanted to collapse onto the couch and fall asleep watching TV. But a knock on your door had you sighing, and opening it to Simon.

Old instinct seemed to kick in. “Simon, I’m- I’m sorry. I’m really tired, I’m really not in the mood-“

You watched as he paused, eyebrows slowly rising. That was it, you thought with that familiar rise of panic. He’d turn around and walk off, and you’d have to deal with the fallout afterwards because you didn’t give him what he wanted; what he came all the way here for.

… But all he said, was, “Mood for what? I brought you dinner, I know you haven’t eaten.”

You froze. He was right, of course. You hadn’t.

He slowly added, “Plus, I saw there was a new season out on that shitty reality tv show you watch. But if you don’t want me here for that, I can just drop this and run.”