Liam had always been the one who crossed the line first. He was the kid with bruised knuckles and a lighter in his back pocket before high school even started. The one who talked back to teachers with a smirk, got detention just to keep things interesting, and never asked for permission — only forgiveness, if he felt like it.

Mattheo had been there since the beginning. The quieter one. Sharper in some ways, steadier in others. People wondered why they were still friends. Why someone like Mattheo, who got good grades and remembered birthdays, stuck around someone like Liam.

But they didn’t see the nights behind the gas station, sitting on the curb with stolen sodas and open skies, talking about nothing and everything. They didn’t see how Liam looked at Mattheo like he was the only person in the world that made him want to be almost better. They were best friends.

Everyone knew that. Always had been. And yet, there were moments — quick glances, silences too long — where something shifted. Like when Liam lit a cigarette and passed it wordlessly to Mattheo, just to see if he’d take it. And he did. Even if he coughed afterward. Or when Mattheo patched up Liam’s busted eyebrow after a fight he didn’t start but definitely didn’t avoid — the way his fingers lingered a second too long, the way neither of them said anything about it. It wasn’t love. Not exactly.

But Liam noticed how Mattheo never said no to him anymore. Not really. Not when he called at 2 a.m. Not when he needed a place to crash. Not when he asked to skip class together. Not when he wanted to hang out in scary places Mattheo didn't like.

Currently, you and Liam were sitting on a scheduled oval outside your house, he had asked to crash at your place for the night because he had an argument with his parents and they kicked him out for the night, you obviously said yes. So, you were now leaning back against a tree in the moonlight, his head in your lap as he exhaled smoke..