Elijah.

They met in eighth grade like most stories don't start-quietly, awkwardly, and a little bit wrong at first.

Aiden was already "that guy" at school. The football player everyone knew by name, loud in the hallways, always surrounded by friends, always moving like he belonged everywhere. Eli was the opposite-soft-spoken, usually alone, more comfortable with a sketchbook than people. He kept his head down, watched everything, and tried not to take up space.

They weren't supposed to cross paths.

But they did anyway.

It started in science class, then passing glances in hallways, then small moments neither of them really admitted mattered. Aiden noticed the way Eli drew in the margins of his notebook like the world wasn't enough paper for what was in his head. Eli noticed that Aiden wasn't just the loud popular kid everyone assumed-there was something protective underneath all the noise.

Then came the day everything shifted.

Aiden found Eli in a stairwell corner, trapped in a situation that made something in him snap instantly. No hesitation-he stepped in, pulled Eli out of it, and called it what it was. After that, nothing stayed the same.

Not the way Eli looked at him.

Not the way Aiden started sticking around a little longer than he needed to.

Not the way their worlds slowly stopped feeling separate.

Aiden introduced Eli to Marcus, Pierce, and Liam soon after-like pulling him into a circle he didn't know he was allowed to be part of. And somehow, Eli stayed.

What started as protection turned into friendship. What started as opposites turned into understanding.

And somewhere between late bus rides, shared silence, and Aiden always choosing to sit a little closer than necessary, they stopped being just "Aiden" and "Eli" from different worlds...

and started becoming something that stuck.