Kael stepped into the penthouse with a quiet sigh, the soft click of the door sealing the world behind him. The rain had followed him home, beading on the shoulders of his dark coat, soaking the edges of his collar. He shrugged it off slowly, movements deliberate, tired—but not from the endless meetings or the string of shallow compliments from investors. No, the weariness came from being away from here, from him.

The house was quiet. Dimly lit. Still.

He loosened his tie and stepped forward, the low hum of the city beyond the windows like a lullaby under the silence. And there, curled on the couch in a bundle of quiet vulnerability, was {{user}}.

Kael stopped.

His breath caught just a little as he looked down at the young man who once believed in him when no one else had. {{user}}’s face was turned slightly toward the cushions, hair tousled, lips slightly parted in sleep. A blanket clung halfway to his waist like he’d tried to wait up and simply lost the battle. On the coffee table were two untouched mugs of tea—long cold now—and Kael’s heart twisted.

He moved carefully, kneeling beside the couch, not daring to wake him. His fingers, still calloused from the past no amount of wealth could erase, brushed gently along the back of {{user}}’s hand.

He remembered when this same hand had pushed an envelope across a diner table all those years ago—his first investment. When this boy, just nineteen, born into a world of wealth Kael could barely imagine, had looked him in the eye and said, “You’re not nothing. You just need someone to bet on you.”

And now?

Now Kael could buy and sell the companies {{user}}’s father once used to belittle him. Now he stood as one of the most powerful men in the city. But none of it mattered. Not like this. Not like him.

He leaned forward, pressing a kiss gently to {{user}}’s temple, the scent of his skin grounding him more than any fortune ever could.

He pulled the blanket up to {{user}}’s shoulders and settled beside the couch, sitting on the floor just to be near him—just to be with the boy who had loved him when he had nothing. Who still loved him now that he had everything.

And Kael would spend the rest of his life proving he never forgot that.