Elias had lived more lives than most people ever dreamed of, and each one left traces that shimmered beneath the surface.
He had tan skin, messy soft curls of dark brown hair, and hazel eyes that could disarm strangers without a word. Tall, lean, with subtle curves that were both masculine and soft, he moved through the world with a quiet confidence. His voice was calm and soothing, a habit from years of coaxing, comforting, and occasionally seducing.
In his twenties, he had danced.. professionally, dangerously, with a charm and frisky confidence he never truly lost. He knew his body, his eyes, his hands could make people look twice. That part of him, once vivid, was mostly buried now, replaced by a careful, composed exterior he presented to the world.
He had married in his thirties. It had been a short, bright chapter, and in a way, it had changed him for good. His wife had a little boy, a quiet, perceptive child with wide eyes and a serious smile. Elias loved him fiercely, instantly, as if the boy had always been meant to be his. But just as he was learning what it meant to be a family, tragedy struck.
A crash. A single, unstoppable moment that left Elias alone, holding a child not his own by blood, but entirely his by heart.
He stopped wearing his wedding ring, but he never stopped carrying the memory of her. Her son, now eight, went everywhere with him. School runs, grocery trips, even long walks on weekends. Elias had built his life around the boy, a protective, quiet world of routines and careful smiles.
He kept his true self hidden. The frisky, daring, sexually confident. Elias had built his life around careful routines and subtle protections, hiding the fire inside him that still lurked beneath his calm, soothing voice. He had become a man of discipline, responsibility, and quiet longing a man with secrets he wouldn't share with the world.
Adrian had always been the opposite of Elias or at least, he looked like it.
Back in uni, he had that buzz cut, sharp jawline, quiet personality, and a gaze so intense people assumed he was unapproachable. Tall, ripped, with heavy shoulders that filled doorways, and muscles that looked like they were carved intentionally. Pale skin, dark brown eyes, and a voice so deep people sometimes flinched when he first spoke.
He was openly gay from day one.
Didn't hide it, didn't whisper about it.
If someone asked, he just shrugged and said, "Yeah, so?"
Blunt. Straightforward. Unbothered.
Underneath that cold exterior was a softness no one expected, a clingy warmth, a man who melted in private, who held emotions too big for his chest.
But only a few people ever got close enough to see that version of him.
He studied criminal justice, got into the police academy right after graduation, and never looked back.
Work turned him disciplined.
Authority turned him sharp. Trauma turned him quiet.
But outside the uniform? He was covered in tattoos, wore rings and dark denim, silver chains, loose black shirts, boots heavy enough to be heard before he was seen.
Edgy and confident, a man who knew exactly what he wanted and usually got it.
He never settled down.
Maybe he didn't trust himself to love without breaking something.
Maybe he still remembered a certain someone from uni whose laugh made him lose composure in a way he never admitted.
He hadn't seen Elias in almost two decades.
They didn't fight, didn't lose touch dramatically. Life simply drifted them apart. They were two adults with separate paths.
Adrian thought about him sometimes rarely quietly, the way you think of a song from your youth that still hits harder than it should.
And then came the wedding.
Elias and Adrian had no memory of each other when the invitations arrived. Years of distance, life changes, and transformations had erased the old university faces from the front of their minds. The outgoing, playful Elias had no recollection of the nerdy yet buff, serious, Adrian. And Adrian, who had silently admired Elias back in the day, didn't remember the playful and friendly man who had been impossible to ignore in lecture halls and parties.
Until the wedding night rolled around.
It was a warm, late autumn evening. The reception hall hummed with laughter, the clinking of glasses, and the faint strains of a string quartet.
Adrian arrived first, in his crisp full black suit, tattoos just peeking from beneath his sleeves of the black button up shirt, buzz cut sharp and professional, muscles filling the tailored jacket, eyes scanning the room like a predator in a sea of humans.
Elias arrived shortly after, the little boy tugging at his hand. Navy blazer over crisp white shirt, matching navy tailored pants, hair intentionally messy, hazel eyes scanning the room like a calm storm, body language measured but still holding a subtle sensuality he rarely let anyone see.
And then their eyes met.
Nothing could have prepared them.
Adrian stopped mid-step, gaze catching the familiar warmth of those hazel eyes, the tall frame, the presence that had once been impossible to ignore.
Elias froze. That old spark, buried under years of grief, responsibility, and restraint surged unexpectedly. His heart stuttered. Breath caught. And for a moment, the child at his side didn't exist. The room didn't exist.
It was just them.
Adrian's low, controlled voice broke the tension,
"…Elias?"
Elias swallowed, lips parting, as if trying to recall the memory. Instead, he whispered softly,
"Adrian…"
A lifetime of changes, of grown-up glow-ups, of losses and gains, all collapsed into that single, charged moment. Neither of them had recognized the other at first but recognition hit now, like a spark to dry tinder.
Years had passed. Lives had changed. But desire… and curiosity… had a memory of its own.