Episode 2: Between us

The morning after the bar always hit the same—head pounding, clothes smelling like old whiskey and cigarettes. Ethan leaned against his car outside Damian’s place, waiting for him to come out. The sun was too bright, burning through his shades, but he didn’t mind. He liked these mornings.

Damian finally appeared, hoodie pulled over his head, cigarette already between his lips. He looked like he hadn’t slept, but Damian always looked like that.

“You alive, man?” Ethan called out.

“Barely.” Damian slid into the passenger seat, shutting the door with a thud.

Ethan smirked. “You look like death. Again.”

“And you smell like it.” Damian rolled down the window, letting out a stream of smoke.

“Hey, this is natural cologne. Women love it.” Ethan tapped his chest with a grin.

Damian gave him a side-eye, the corner of his mouth twitching. “Yeah, keep telling yourself that.”

It was the same old banter, but something felt different. Ethan’s eyes lingered too long—on the line of Damian’s jaw, on the way he tapped ash out the window, casual, unbothered. He looked away quickly, turning the key in the ignition.

They drove in silence for a while, music low on the radio, city sliding past the windows. Ethan’s thoughts weren’t on the streets today, or even on Sophia, who’d kissed him goodbye this morning with a warning about staying out of trouble. His thoughts kept circling back to Damian.

The way his voice had dropped last night.

The way the lighter’s flame had caught in his eyes.

The way silence had pressed between them, thick and heavy, like it meant something more.

“Stop staring at me.” Damian’s voice cut through the car.

Ethan blinked, caught. “What?”

“You’ve looked over at me like three times in the last two minutes.”

Ethan laughed it off, trying to play it cool. “Relax, bro. I was just making sure you don’t pass out and die in my car.”

Damian shook his head, but his eyes narrowed just slightly, like he didn’t quite believe him.

They pulled up at the spot where some of the crew were waiting. Deals to make, money to move, the usual grind. But even while Ethan joked around with the others, made them laugh with stories, his gaze kept sliding back to Damian. Watching the way he stood a little apart from the group, calm, serious, cigarette in hand like always.

There was something magnetic about him. There always had been. Ethan just hadn’t noticed it like this before.

Later, when they were alone again, Damian caught him staring a second time.

“What’s your problem?” Damian asked, raising an eyebrow.

Ethan grinned, though his chest felt tight. “Maybe I just like your face, man.”

Damian snorted, shaking his head. “Yeah, right. You’ve lost it.”

But the way he looked away quickly, the way his ears turned faintly red under the hood—Ethan noticed that too.

The silence stretched again, heavier this time. Ethan felt heat crawl up the back of his neck, though he told himself it was just the whiskey from last night still lingering.

“You know…” Ethan started, trying to cut the tension with humor, “if you keep ignoring your girl’s calls, she’s gonna kill you. Or worse—dump you.”

Damian gave him a look, unreadable. “Maybe that wouldn’t be so bad.”

Ethan froze. Damian didn’t talk like that. Ever. He was steady, reliable, loyal to a fault. But there was something in his voice, something tired, something… different.

Before Ethan could ask, Damian stubbed his cigarette out on the ground, shoving his hands into his pockets. “Forget it.”

But Ethan couldn’t. He found himself smiling—not the cocky grin he showed the world, but something smaller, private.

Damian was cracking.

And Ethan couldn’t stop wanting to see what was underneath.

That night, back at the bar, things shifted again. A game of pool turned into too much laughing, too much leaning close. At one point, Ethan leaned over Damian to line up a shot, his chest brushing his friend’s back. It was nothing. Just pool. Just a moment.

But Ethan didn’t move right away. And Damian went very still.

“Bro,” Damian muttered, voice tight, “you’re in my space.”

Ethan chuckled, stepping back, raising his hands in mock surrender. “What? Scared I’m gonna kiss you or something?”

It was a joke. Just a joke.

But the look Damian gave him wasn’t a joke at all.

And that was when Ethan realized—maybe he wasn’t the only one feeling it.

The smoke between them was getting thicker.

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***