you had been away the entire summer, sent off to some dull family retreat that felt more like punishment than vacation. your friends at nevermore had written you letters, but eugene’s were always the ones you looked forward to most — pages filled with crooked doodles of bees, messy handwriting spilling gossip, and random sketches along the margins. you could practically hear his laugh in every line.

back then, eugene was still the same short, slightly chubby, bee-obsessed kid you’d known since your first year. sweet, awkward, always with honey-sticky hands and glasses that slid down his nose no matter how many times he pushed them back up.

which is why, when you stepped off the carriage and onto nevermore’s cobblestones, your eyes landed on a tall figure walking toward you… and for a moment, you almost didn’t recognize him.

“hey,” the voice said — deeper now, warmer, though still carrying that nervous edge you remembered.

he smiled, and suddenly you knew it was him. the same eyes, the same dimple when he grinned — only now framed by a sharper jawline, a leaner build, and curls of black hair that looked unfairly good, like he’d just rolled out of bed and still managed to look put-together. his glasses fit better against his slimmer face, and even his uniform jacket seemed to hang differently, sharper, more grown.