The storm came in quietly.
Not the weather—though the sky had turned a dull, sulking gray—but something between them. Something Mira couldn't name yet. It wasn't tension, exactly. More like… distance. A shift she couldn't trace.
They still texted. Still saw each other. But the rhythm had changed.
It started with silence in places where there used to be playful banter. Longer pauses. Fewer smiles.
Mira caught herself analyzing everything—his tone, his words, his eyes. And that was never a good sign.
So when she walked into the shop that afternoon and saw him hunched over a disassembled game console, barely acknowledging her, she didn't wait.
"What's going on with you?" she asked flatly.
Jace didn't look up. "Nothing."
"Don't do that. Don't shut me out."
"I'm not," he said, more harshly than she expected. "I just have a lot on my mind."
"Like what?"
Silence.
Mira crossed her arms, frustration simmering. "You say you want something real. But you only show up when it's easy."
That got his attention. He turned slowly, meeting her eyes with something sharp and tired.
"You think this is easy for me?"
"I think you're pulling away."
"I think you're imagining things," he snapped.
"No," she said, stepping forward, voice hardening. "I think you're scared. And instead of talking to me, you're hiding behind work again."
The air between them thickened.
Jace stood, wiping his hands on his jeans. "You want honesty?" he said. "Fine. I'm terrified, Mira. I'm terrified of wanting you. Of screwing this up. Of feeling too much and not being enough."
Her breath caught.
"I've messed up every serious thing I've ever tried. And you—you make me want to try again. But I don't know how."
The rawness in his voice undid her anger. "Jace…"
He looked away. "So yeah. Maybe I'm pulling back. But it's not because I don't care. It's because I care too much."
Mira stepped closer, slower now. "You don't have to be perfect. You just have to let me in."
He met her gaze. "You sure you want in?"
She didn't hesitate. "Yeah. I'm sure."
A long beat passed.
Jace exhaled shakily. "Then stay. Just... stay a while."
---
They didn't kiss. They didn't even touch.
But they sat there for hours—quiet, breathing the same air, chipping away at the wall between them.
And sometimes, that's all it takes.
Not a fix.
Just the choice to stay when it's easier to run.