Something was different, yet {{user}} couldn’t quite put their finger on what exactly had changed. And they would never dare to ask Jace, but they both knew something hadn’t been the same for a while now.

They walked through aisle two, a routine by now, buying things they didn’t even need. “Who in the world needs both frozen and fresh strawberries?” Jace found himself wondering as {{user}} reached for the frozen ones, the fresh strawberries already in the cart.

Perhaps the way Jace helped them reach up to the very top of the fridge for the damn strawberries was hypocritical. It was no longer “cute”, it was almost annoying. Yet he only smiled, one of those fake smiles {{user}} always failed to distinguish from the real ones.

The small talk was still there, still polite, almost gentle, but Jace couldn’t look into {{user}}’s eyes anymore, he would always end up looking away.

“Are we not fine?” Jace thought to himself. It felt like a gun was resting on the back of his neck, loaded and ready to shoot, insecurity, unease, and fear. But that’s love, right?