(Where the world fades, and it's just the two of them. No masks. No stage. Just warmth, softness, and the terrifying beauty of being known.)
"Some people are loud when they love.
Others speak it in shared blankets, and hands that don't pull away."
It started with a question.
"Stay," Viera said.
It wasn't dramatic. It wasn't a whisper in the rain.
It was said while she rummaged through the fridge with one sock on and Kade half-sitting at the kitchen table, looking like he didn't know if he should reach for the bowl of grapes or the doorknob.
He blinked. "What?"
She turned to him. Her hair was a little tangled. Her hoodie (his hoodie) was lopsided on one shoulder. Her eyes were serious in that way that didn't feel heavy—just honest.
"Stay over tonight," she said again. "Just… be here."
Not for anything complicated.
Not for some romantic milestone.
Just because.
Because it was Friday.
Because the house was too big.
Because her parents were out of town again.
Because she didn't want to be alone.
And maybe, neither did he.
Later
Her bedroom was quiet.
Not silent. Not tense.
Just… quiet.
Kade sat cross-legged on the floor, back against the wall, playing with the hem of his sweatpants. Viera lay belly-down on her bed, head turned toward him, one leg lazily kicking back and forth in the air like she was swimming through thought.
The lamp beside them buzzed faintly.
Outside, the rain had stopped, leaving the night cool and damp.
Viera spoke first.
"You're weird when you're this quiet."
"I'm always quiet."
"No. Sometimes you're quiet like a rock. But tonight you're quiet like…" She trailed off.
"Like what?"
She thought for a second. "Like a boy who's afraid the silence might say something he isn't ready to hear."
He blinked at her.
"…You scare me sometimes."
She smiled, head still on her pillow. "Good."
He looked at her. She looked at him.
And the air between them thickened—not with fear, but vulnerability.
That quiet that comes when neither person wants to break the moment… but both want it to mean something.
The Talk That Almost Didn't Happen
Kade leaned his head back against the wall and exhaled.
"I was thinking," he said.
"Oh no."
"I was thinking…" He hesitated. "Maybe it's okay I don't always know how to say things. That maybe, just sitting here with you… maybe that's enough sometimes."
Viera blinked. Then sat up.
"You think I don't already know that?"
He looked away. "Sometimes I worry you're waiting for me to become someone better."
"I'm not." She got up. Crossed the room. Sat down next to him, knees bumping his. "I'm just waiting for you to realize you already are."
His breath caught.
And he hated how much that made his eyes sting.
The Bed
They lay on top of the blanket, not under it. It felt safer that way. Like they weren't making anything into something it wasn't. Her head on his chest. His hand in her hair, barely moving.
At some point, they started playing a game.
"What would you do," she said, "if I turned into a frog right now?"
"I'd scream."
"Wow."
"And then keep you in a shoebox and feed you strawberries until I found a witch who could turn you back."
She laughed. It shook his chest.
"What would you do if I stopped talking one day?" she asked next.
He looked at the ceiling.
"I'd learn how to listen to everything else instead."
A Moment That Shouldn't Have Mattered, But Did
Her hand rested on his chest.
Not moving. Just there. Just warm.
And in a whisper so faint he almost thought he imagined it, she said:
"You feel safe."
His heart stuttered.
He wanted to say something. Something big. Something movie-worthy.
But what came out instead was—
"You do too."
Tickles in the Dark
Right before they drifted off, she moved.
Shifted just enough to hook her knee over his leg, pinning him in place.
"What are you doing?" he mumbled.
She smirked.
"Reminding you I still win."
And then her fingers slid up under his shirt—light, teasing, impossibly cruel—and he yelped.
"Viera!"
"Shhhh, it's nighttime. People are sleeping."
"You're going to kill me—!"
She tickled his stomach, his sides, that horrible soft spot near his ribs. He tried to grab her wrists. She dodged. Giggled. Her hair got in his face. Her laughter was close enough to taste.
"Mercy—" he wheezed, "—you're gonna make me snort!"
"That's the goal."
When she finally relented, he was flushed, breathless, tears in his eyes from laughing too hard.
She kissed the tip of his nose.
He looked at her, dazed and glowing.
And whispered, "You're ridiculous."
She whispered back, "I'm yours."
Sleep Comes
When it finally came—slow and heavy—it was without fear. Without walls. Without second-guessing.
Viera curled into his side, face tucked under his chin.
Kade's arm wrapped around her shoulders.
And the world outside the blanket no longer mattered.
For once, the silence between them wasn't empty.
It was full of everything they didn't need to say.
End of Chapter 25 – Where We Are, When We're Alone