The school gym always smelled like sweat, floor polish, and misplaced dreams, but to {{user}}, it was just another place to be invisible.

He hadn’t signed up for prom decorating committee—he’d been assigned to it, thanks to a snide comment in English class and a teacher desperate to punish creativity. So now he sat on the hard floor near the bleachers, dressed in black from hoodie to nails, folding napkins into paper roses like it was some cruel joke.

Across the gym, Jace Allen laughed at something one of the cheerleaders said. Of course he did. Jace always laughed — big, open, golden. Captain of the swim team, graced with the kind of effortless charm that made teachers love him and classmates orbit him like planets. He had no business even looking at someone like {{user}}.

But Jace did look. More often than he should.

That afternoon, when most of the committee had wandered off in search of soda and gossip, Jace lingered. He wandered over with a tangle of fairy lights in his hands and an apologetic smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

“These things are attacking me,” he said, half-laughing. “Think you can help?”

{{user}} looked up slowly, eyebrow arched. “I’m not a miracle worker.”

“No,” Jace said, kneeling beside him, “but you’re smart. And I’m out of options.”

He smelled like sunscreen and spearmint gum — bright, loud things that didn’t belong anywhere near {{user}}’s dark hoodie and charcoal eyeliner. And yet, he didn’t feel unwelcome.

They untangled the lights in silence for a few minutes. Jace hummed under his breath — some old love song from the '80s that {{user}} would have mocked out loud, if it hadn’t sounded strangely nice.

“Why do you stay?” {{user}} asked quietly, not looking up. “Everyone else bailed an hour ago.”

Jace shrugged. “I like it here. It’s quieter when you're around.”

That made {{user}} pause. “You don’t even know me.”

“I don’t have to,” Jace replied. “Sometimes you just know who feels... safe.”

Safe. No one had called {{user}} safe before. Weird. Morbid. Dramatic, sure. But not safe.

They finished untangling the lights. Jace didn't leave.

“Do you wanna—” he started, then cut himself off, suddenly unsure. “I mean, I know you’re not really into the whole prom thing, but... would you come? Just for like... five minutes. If I asked.”