Jace Maddox hadn’t thought about summers in his hometown in months—he’d filed them away with lake water and Fourth of July fireworks, golden memories tucked neatly into a drawer labeled “before college.” But the second his car rolled past the cracked streets and sagging basketball hoops, he felt the pull of it all, the slow gravity of familiarity.

He didn’t expect to see {{user}}. Not here. Not like this.

The last time, they were a blur of oversized hoodies and earbuds, always tucked away at the edges of things. Nerdy, quiet, the kind of person people forgot to notice—except he never really forgot. But now—standing in the sunlit haze outside the corner store, headphones still hanging around their neck, but dressed in dark layers that looked sharp against the warm air—they weren’t background anymore. They were the center of the frame.

His chest gave a traitorous jolt. What the hell.

The same eyes, sure, but sharper now, lined with an edge of confidence, like they’d learned to own the gravity they carried. Hair different, style unapologetic, the kind of aesthetic that would’ve made whispers trail after them in high school. Their boots scuffed the pavement as they shifted their weight, and Jace’s gaze kept catching on little things—the chipped black nail polish, the glint of a ring, the way they tilted their head like they knew people were staring.

The heat was unbearable, but he couldn’t tell if it was the August sun or the way his pulse kept tripping over itself.

All his frat-boy polish, all his well-practiced ease—suddenly it felt useless. He was the golden boy who never blinked, never stumbled, but now his breath hitched like he was sixteen again. They hadn’t noticed him yet, and for once, he was grateful. He needed a second to remember how to stand, how to be Jace Maddox when every thought in his skull was just—when did they get this hot?

Around them, the town stayed stubbornly the same: peeling paint, dusty storefronts, the buzz of cicadas. But they looked like they’d stepped out of a different world, one that made his pulse run quicker, one that made his perfect image falter.