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The atmosphere inside Avery's apartment was buzzing with energy. The group of friends had gathered for a game night, the familiar sounds of laughter and playful banter filling the room. The smell of take-out food lingered in the air, mingling with the faint scent of candles flickering on the coffee table. Avery, the host of the evening, stood near the kitchen, handing out drinks and organizing the game pieces for their usual rotation of board games and card games.
Gemini leaned against the wall near the window, his arms crossed in a subtle display of distance, his eyes scanning the room, but not really seeing it. He was there, physically present, but his mind was elsewhere. Fourth, sitting across the room on the couch, was similarly absorbed in his thoughts, his gaze flicking occasionally to Gemini before quickly darting away.
Despite the lively chatter around them, an almost imperceptible tension settled between them like an invisible wall neither could breach. Avery, ever the perceptive one, watched them both closely, noticing how they interacted with everyone else without quite engaging with each other. It wasn't lost on her. She knew something had shifted since their last meeting, though neither Gemini nor Fourth had addressed it directly.
Liam, ever the jokester, cracked a joke about Noah's serious face during a game of Pictionary, and Maya burst into laughter, her energy infectious. Noah, sitting quietly beside them, exchanged a brief but knowing look with Avery, both aware that the undercurrent between Gemini and Fourth was undeniable.
"Gemini, Fourth, are you two just going to sit there and brood, or do you want to play?" Maya's voice cut through the silence, playfully teasing. She hadn't missed the lack of interaction between the two, and she decided now was as good a time as any to call it out.
Gemini forced a smile and shifted, breaking from his distant posture. "I'm good," he said, offering only a faint, almost apologetic grin. His voice was light, but there was a coolness to it.
Fourth's response was a noncommittal hum, his fingers nervously tapping the edge of his drink. He wasn't sure if he should try to make things less awkward or just let the night unfold, but his attempts to bridge the gap between him and Gemini had been met with hesitation each time.
Avery caught his eye from the kitchen and tilted her head toward the hallway, signaling that they needed to talk. The moment was brief, but it left Fourth unsettled.
As Liam and Maya continued their playful teasing, Noah's focus shifted to Fourth, sensing the internal struggle bubbling just beneath the surface. But no one spoke of it directly—not yet.
As the evening wore on, Gemini felt the weight of the past pressing down on him. While everyone else seemed to fall into easy camaraderie, he found himself slipping further into his own thoughts. The laughter, the games, the chatter—they all seemed so distant.
There was a quiet corner of his mind that wouldn't let go of his past heartbreak. He had loved once, deeply, with every ounce of his being. But it had ended in betrayal, and the scar it left was one he didn't know how to erase. The relationship had started full of promise, with moments of bliss and shared dreams. But it had cracked, little by little, until there was nothing left but silence and the final, cutting words of someone who had once been everything to him.
Gemini closed his eyes for a brief moment, remembering the hurt. The sting of rejection, the feeling of being unimportant. It wasn't something he spoke about, but it was a ghost that lingered every time he even considered opening up to someone again.
Tonight, Fourth's presence felt too much like that old, painful chapter of his life. He could feel the pull between them, something magnetic, something real, but it scared him. To allow someone to get close again would be to risk that old pain.
As the conversation swirled around him, Gemini found his thoughts drifting. He noticed Fourth across the room, trying to engage with the group, but his gaze kept flickering back to him—subtle, almost like an afterthought, but it didn't go unnoticed.
Gemini couldn't help but wonder if Fourth saw the same thing he saw: a chance to be something more than they were now. But what if it didn't work out? What if he opened his heart again, only to find it broken once more?
The knot in his chest tightened.
Avery's voice broke through his reverie. "Hey, you okay?"
He turned toward her, blinking as if she'd pulled him out of a dream. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just... thinking," he said, offering her a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.
Avery was too smart for him. She could read him like a book, even when he didn't want to be read. She studied him for a moment before her lips curved into a soft smile.
"I know that look," she said gently. "It's the look of someone avoiding the truth."
Gemini sighed, the walls he'd built around his emotions starting to crack. He didn't want to admit it, but the truth was clear. He was scared. And that fear had kept him at arm's length, even from the one person who had the power to make him feel something deeper.
Avery, sensing his hesitation, didn't push him further. Instead, she gave him a knowing glance. "You don't have to talk about it now. But you should, eventually."
Gemini nodded, grateful for her understanding. He didn't know if he could talk about it, though. Not yet. Not when everything was still so raw.
Across the room, Fourth watched Gemini with quiet intensity. The distance between them felt more pronounced now than ever, and it gnawed at him. He had tried to read Gemini's moods, to gauge his reactions, but tonight, nothing seemed to make sense. The Gemini he had gotten to know—the witty, carefree person who could laugh at anything—was now distant and elusive, a stranger in the same room.
Fourth's stomach twisted. He couldn't help but wonder if he had misread their connection. Had those fleeting moments of eye contact, the quiet words exchanged, meant nothing to Gemini? Or was he simply too afraid to let anyone close?
His mind raced, replaying the past and the people who had rejected him, people who had made him feel as though he wasn't enough. The last time he had tried to open up to someone, it had ended in embarrassment, in rejection, in the feeling of being unworthy. He couldn't go through that again. Not with Gemini.
Fourth took a deep breath, attempting to calm the anxious energy that threatened to overwhelm him. The last thing he wanted was to look desperate or needy in front of Gemini. Yet, he couldn't shake the desire to reach out, to try again, to bridge the gap that had formed between them.
But each time he tried, Gemini pulled away, and Fourth was left standing at the edge of something beautiful, too afraid to take the plunge.
He caught Noah's eye across the room and, for a moment, their gazes locked. Noah, ever perceptive, tilted his head slightly toward the hallway, a silent invitation for a conversation.
As the night wore on, Fourth found an opportunity to initiate small gestures—offering Gemini a drink, making light conversation, and even sitting a little closer than before. But every attempt seemed to fall flat. Gemini's answers were short, his attention elsewhere, and though the room was full of people, the space between them felt empty.
It wasn't until Maya made one of her typical jokes that the tension between the two of them seemed to break.
"Okay, seriously, what's going on with you two? I'm starting to think we need to get the two of you in a room with a bottle of tequila and just let it all out," she said, raising an eyebrow at them both.
Gemini and Fourth exchanged a brief, awkward glance. It was the kind of moment where words seemed to fail them. The chemistry between them was undeniable, but something was holding them both back.
Noah, watching the exchange, couldn't help but feel a pang of frustration on their behalf. He could see what they couldn't yet admit to themselves.
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❥TO BE CONTINUED...