I found him exactly where I knew he'd be.
Back against the rooftop railing, one leg stretched out, the other bent at the knee, hand loosely cradling a bottle of iced tea — his favorite. The kind with the green label and lemon he always claimed "wasn't too sweet," like that was some badge of honor. He drank it like it was a personality trait.
The breeze caught his hair just enough to ruffle the longer strands near his temple. Moonlight made the silver chain at his neck glint as he moved. He looked... quiet. Still. Like he belonged here, etched into the concrete and sky.
He glanced up before I even touched the door, like he'd felt me coming.
"You're late," Jaerin said, tipping his head toward me, his voice soft with a smile already in it.
"You're early," I countered, but my voice was lighter than I felt.
He shrugged, slow and easy. "Maybe I like being here."
"With me?"
His lips curved, not quite a grin — more like a secret. "Didn't say that."
Liar.
I rolled my eyes and crossed the rooftop in a few casual steps, dropping down beside him like I hadn't just spent twenty minutes pacing the hallway, arguing with myself. Our shoulders bumped. Neither of us moved away.
It was subtle, but his body shifted toward mine.
He always did that — turned slightly like he was listening with his whole self.
The city below was softer than usual, wrapped in a kind of hush that made everything feel slower, like time was pausing just for us. Neon blinked in distant windows. Somewhere, someone honked half-heartedly, like they weren't committed to the rage.
It was... peaceful. If you ignored the thrum under my skin.
"Nice tea," I said, nodding at the bottle in his hand.
He held it out to me without hesitation, like he knew I'd take it. "It's yours now."
"I didn't say I wanted it."
"You looked at it like you did."
I took it anyway. Sipped just to prove him wrong — or prove something to myself. Cold. Sharp. A little lemony in that fake citrus way, but somehow it worked. It tasted like him now.
"Still boring," I said, handing it back.
"And yet, you always drink half of it," he muttered, taking it with an amused shake of his head.
I didn't deny it.
We sat like that for a while. Side by side. The kind of silence that felt full instead of empty — full of things neither of us were quite ready to name. Our thighs touched now, just barely, but that tiny point of contact burned like it meant something.
It was easier now.
The rooftop no longer felt like a confession booth or a battlefield. Just a place. Ours, maybe. In that quiet, half-hidden way things belong to people who don't talk about them too loudly.
I stole a glance at him. His features were calm, but his jaw was tight — just enough that I noticed. Something was tugging at him behind the stillness.
"You okay?" I asked softly.
Jaerin leaned his head back against the railing, eyes falling closed for a breath. The angle sharpened the curve of his cheekbone, made the scar on his jaw more visible. I wondered if he even remembered how he got it. I wanted to ask — but didn't.
"Yeah," he said after a pause. "Just... thinking."
"About?"
He opened his eyes again, slow. Turned his head to face me fully.
"That night."
I didn't need clarification.
The night we almost kissed.
The night our wolves decided we were already halfway mated and didn't care about our pacing issues.
"You said your wolf had already made a decision," I said, more careful now. "Dal hasn't changed his mind?"
His fingers tapped once against the plastic of his drink. "Nope. He's... annoyingly confident."
"And you?"
His gaze dropped for a second, then found mine again.
"I'm still figuring it out," he said quietly. "But I'm... not afraid of the outcome anymore."
The words hit somewhere soft in me. Somewhere that had been waiting.
"Even if it means being a male luna?" I asked, only half-joking. "People still whisper about that like it's scandalous."
He snorted. "You say that like it's an insult."
"It isn't," I said quickly. "I just... my last mate couldn't handle it. Said it made him feel small."
Jaerin was quiet for a while. But not distant. Just... processing.
Finally: "I'm not him."
"No," I said. "You're not."
He shifted, angling toward me more, and something in his body language changed — not pushy, not possessive. Just open. Solid.
"I'm not saying I've got this whole thing figured out," he said. "But I know this much: I don't want to stand behind you because it's easier. I want to stand beside you because it's right. If that means finding a new way to lead... I'll learn. I'll get there."
My chest ached — that strange, warm ache that feels like something good trying to grow where you've only known bruises.
"You're not bad at this," I said, nudging his knee with mine.
"At what?"
"Us."
His smile was soft, quieter than usual, but it reached his eyes. "We're trying."
"And that's enough," I said, more to myself than him.
The silence returned, but it didn't weigh anything. My wolf, Dawn, wasn't pushing tonight. No growling. No pacing. She felt... satisfied. Curious, maybe. But calm.
I caught Jaerin glancing at my hands again — the way he always did when he wanted to hold them but didn't know how to ask.
The breeze picked up, tugging my braids and sneaking under my jacket. I shivered once.
He noticed, of course.
Without a word, Jaerin pulled off his hoodie and handed it to me.
"You're literally the furnace in this relationship," I said, slipping it on.
"Not a relationship," he muttered — but the corner of his mouth twitched like even he didn't believe that anymore.
The hoodie was warm. Soft. It smelled like his cologne — clean, with that faint underlying spice that always clung to him after dance practice.
When I looked back at him, he wasn't watching me — not directly. He was staring out at the city, his profile carved out in silver and shadow.
But his pinky was there.
Resting on the concrete between us.
Waiting.
Quiet. Steady.
I didn't hesitate.
I let mine find his — curling just enough to let him know I'd seen him. That I was still here. That I was choosing this, too, even if neither of us had said the words yet.
And when our fingers touched...
Neither of us looked away.
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