Atlas watches from behind me, eyes scanning crowds, intersections, rooftops.He doesn’t hover.He shadows.Close enough to reach me.Far enough to give me room.
Kael walks on my other side, matching my pace perfectly, his hand occasionally brushing mine when the sidewalk narrows.Every time it happens, something fizzles under my skin.
At the harbor, Finn leans on the railing, pointing out boats he claims he could steal if necessary.
Atlas mutters, “Please don’t.”
Kael says, “No, you couldn’t.”
I watch the water and breathe in cold air that doesn’t burn this time.
It feels normal.
Safe.
Happy.
I’m not used to happy.
At the Common, Finn throws snowballs at Atlas until Atlas snatches him by the back of his hoodie and the two wrestle like children on the frozen grass.A little girl nearby giggles as Finn falls dramatically into a snowbank.
Kael stands beside me, hands in his coat pockets, watching the chaos with quiet fondness he’ll never admit out loud.
“Thank you,” I say.
He glances down.“For what?”
“For this.”I gesture around.“For...all of this.”
Kael’s jaw flexes once.Not tension.Something else.
“It’s nothing,” he says quietly.
“To me?”I shake my head.“It’s everything.”
Kael’s breath leaves him slowly.He doesn’t say anything else, but his arm brushes mine again—not accidental this time.
We walk for hours.
We talk.
We tease.
We steal little moments.
Finn snaps a picture of the four of us eating cannoli, and when I see it on his phone, something inside me stutters.
I look...
Happy.
Whole.
Held.
Not by their hands.
By their presence.
