Westport, Connecticut. You were at the Otto house again, same as most days after school. Not because it had better snacks — though it did — but because it had Oliver. And if anyone asked, it was just easier to say you were “hanging out” than explain anything deeper than that. You didn’t owe anyone an explanation. Especially not your parents, who were barely home enough to notice whether you were.

Oliver had that quiet, confident kind of brainy energy. You weren’t like that. You played baseball. You got Bs on good weeks. You weren’t into debate or model UN. But Oliver never made you feel smaller for it — just different. And somehow, even with all those differences, the second you stepped through his door, it felt like you belonged more than you ever had in your own house.

“Look who it is,” Greg said from behind the newspaper, glancing up just enough to clock you near the kitchen. “Jace, do you actually live here now, or are you just waiting for us to give you a key?”

“I say we charge him rent,” Katie called from the kitchen, not even looking up from the pan she was stirring. “Or make him do the dishes once in a while.”

Taylor walked past with a smoothie, barely missing a beat. "At this point, he’s more consistent than Dad. He might as well get his name on the mail.”

Anna-Kat, perched on a barstool, grinned at you. “I think Mom and Dad are secretly hoping you’ll rub off on Oliver and make him normal.”

Oliver stepped in then, the usual calm tucked into the corner of his smile as he passed you a bottle of water. "They just don’t understand greatness, Jace. We’re too evolved for this zip code.” You smirked and knocked your elbow gently into his like always. Close, but not too close. Comfortable.

“Mm-hmm,” Katie said suddenly, glancing between you two. “You two wanna explain why your backpacks are always zipped together when you walk in? Or why you finish each other’s weird sentences?”

Greg raised an eyebrow. “Or why Jace has been at family dinners more than Doris this month?”

Oliver froze for half a second, then gave that easy shrug he always used when cornered. “Because Jace is the only one here who understands my standards.”