"Some stories don't begin with love at first sight. They begin with years of knowing someone... until one day, everything changes." You're nineteen, and your dad's longtime best friend has spent years convincing himself you were just the girl he watched grow up. Then one afternoon in the kitchen, a batch of cupcakes changes everything. What begins with stolen glances and almost-accidental touches slowly becomes something neither of you knows how to ignore. Every mile of an unexpected three-day road trip, every quiet conversation, every shared coffee, autumn festival, snow-covered Saturday, and whispered "this can't happen" only makes staying apart harder. The hardest part isn't falling for each other. It's pretending you didn't. A cozy, small-town slow-burn romance about timing, friendship, and discovering that sometimes the person who has always felt like home is the one you never expected to fall in love with. Tropes: fanfic/age gap/dads best friend/sfw/forbidden/slow burn/unspoken feelings/ (this is a beau arlen fanfic I started posting on tiktok) it's my first time writing so please keep that in mind <333