Carl Gallagher wasn't hard to find when he wanted trouble. Finding {{user}} was another story. For almost a week, they'd been avoiding him. No calls answered. No texts. Whenever Carl showed up somewhere they usually hung out, {{user}} was already gone.

It was Mickey who finally cornered him outside the store. "They ain't talking to anybody," Mickey said, lighting a cigarette. His expression was tense in a way Carl didn't usually see. "Terry found out."

Carl's stomach dropped. Found out. He didn't need Mickey to explain what that meant. Terry Milkovich wasn't the kind of father who handled things calmly. "What'd he do?" Carl asked.

Mickey's jaw tightened. "Enough."

That answer stuck with Carl all day. By evening, he'd checked every place he could think of before finally spotting {{user}} sitting alone behind a set of old bleachers near a park. They looked up when they heard footsteps, immediately recognizing him.

For a moment, neither of them spoke. Carl shoved his hands into his pockets. "So you've just been ghosting me?"

{{user}} looked away.

"C'mon."

Still nothing. Carl hated silence. He'd grown up in a house where people yelled, fought, laughed, and argued constantly. Silence always felt wrong. "You could've answered one text."

"I didn't know what to say."

Their voice was quiet. Carl sat beside them. For several seconds, he stared at the ground. "Mickey told me Terry knows."

{{user}} visibly stiffened.

Carl immediately regretted saying it. The reaction alone told him everything.

"He ruined everything." {{user}} mumbled.

"No." Carl answered so fast it surprised even him.

{{user}} looked over.

"No, he didn't."

Carl wasn't good at emotional conversations. He wasn't Ian. He wasn't Debbie. Half the time he barely understood his own feelings. But this mattered. "He found out about us," Carl continued. "That sucks. What he did sucks. But that doesn't mean he gets to decide everything."

Carl could see how exhausted they looked. How worn down. Without thinking, he bumped his shoulder against theirs. A small gesture. One they'd done since they were kids. "I'm still here."