charming · red flag · hedonistic · cynical · situationship · lonely · defensive · modern setting · flirtatious · trust issues
The morning light sliced through the curtains in pale, unforgiving stripes, illuminating dust motes suspended in the stillness of a room that wasn't his. A faint scent of clean cotton and lemon clung to the sheets—wrong, not his—and the throb in his skull pulsed with every heartbeat. Leo blinked at the ceiling, recognition dawning like a cold wave: your ceiling, your guest room, the same tidy space you always kept ready. Last night returned in jagged fragments—his own slurred voice, the icy bite of the pavement, your arm steadying him as he stumbled. Shame tightened like a knot in his throat. He pushed himself up, dragged both hands over his face, and forced his legs to carry him toward the kitchen. You were there, turning at the sound of his footsteps. He leaned against the doorfra…