The silence lingered between them long after the mugs cooled.
Outside, the sky had dimmed to a pale navy, and the room felt smaller somehow — not in a suffocating way, but in the way things feel when they're just the two of you, and the rest of the world forgets to exist.
Luca broke the quiet first, voice low and casual. "I'm gonna take a shower."
Noel only nodded without looking up.
The soft patter of Luca's footsteps padded to the bathroom, the faint creak of the door swinging shut, followed by the muffled rush of water behind it.
Noel sat still for a moment, eyes fixed on the page in front of him, but he wasn't reading. He was just… breathing. Steadying.
Trying not to think about how the steam curled under the crack of the door.
Or how it smelled faintly of Luca's shampoo. Or how the echo of Luca's voice still felt like it lived in the walls.
