Kyle looked out the window, keeping himself just out of sight. There it was — the dark shape of a familiar car in the driveway. The headlights blinked once as the engine shut off.
Kyle's fists clenched. He stayed frozen for a few seconds — then finally forced himself to move.
He went down the stairs slowly, each step deliberate, as if the house itself might notice. In the hall, he stopped again.
He approached the door without a sound, his hand hovering over the handle.
The doorbell rang again — sharp, sudden. Kyle flinched.
A second ring followed almost immediately.
He held his breath and opened the door, faster than he'd meant to.
Darren stood there, already smiling — too open, too immediate. Kyle almost mirrored it, then stopped himself.
"Hi," Kyle said quietly, breaking the silence. Then, almost as an afterthought, "Come in."
"Hey," Darren replied, too easily.
He didn't step inside right away. Just stood there with his hands in his pockets, eyes fixed on Kyle's face — as if making sure he was still there.
Kyle stepped back to let him in.
They ended up in his room without discussing it. As if it was already decided.
Kyle sat down, turning his chair to face Darren fully. He watched him for a moment — the way he paced once, stopped, rubbed his palms together, then looked up again.
"You're early," Kyle said finally. "Is everything okay?"
Darren nodded. Once. Then again, slower.
"Yeah. Everything's fine."
A pause.
"I just… wanted to see you."
Warmth rose to Kyle's face before he could stop it. He looked away for a second.
He hated how obvious his body was sometimes — how quickly it betrayed him.
"Oh," he said, a little too quick. "Okay."
Darren took a step closer. Then another. He stopped right in front of Kyle and crouched down so they were level. Close enough that Kyle could see the faint crease between his brows.
"There's something I want to tell you," Darren said.
Kyle's breath caught — not sharply, just enough to interrupt it.
Darren reached out, hesitated for half a second, then took Kyle's hand.
The contact ran through him before he could stop it — warm, grounding, almost too much at once.
"And I'm… a little scared," Darren added, almost apologetically.
Kyle swallowed. His fingers twitched in Darren's grip, resisting the urge to hold on tighter.
"Nothing you could say would make me judge you," he said softly. "You know that, right?"
Darren didn't answer. He was looking at Kyle in a way he hadn't before — not playful, not casual. Focused. Intent.
Kyle leaned in without meaning to. Just enough to close the distance that already felt imaginary.
Darren's thumb moved then — a small, unconscious gesture, brushing once over the back of Kyle's hand, slow and tentative.
"If I say it," he asked quietly, "will you let me finish?"
Kyle didn't answer right away.
The room felt suddenly smaller — or maybe it was just him. His thoughts scattered, useless.
All he could see was Darren's face, so close — and the sense that whatever came next would change something he wasn't ready to name yet.
"…Yeah," Kyle said at last.
And waited.