How To Hold A Dying Star [ boyxboyxboy ]

Some people burn slowly.
Aster Calloway had been dying for years.

New York City was supposed to be a fresh start-somewhere to disappear, reset, and finally breathe without the past sitting on his chest.

Across the hall lives Oleg Volkov, a Russian boxer with bruised knuckles and a silence that feels heavier than noise. Aster knows him. Not vaguely. Not distantly. Properly. And Oleg knows him too-there's no confusion in the way he looks at him when their paths cross in the hallway.

Nothing is said. But everything is already there.

And then there's Dante Hayes-Oleg's boyfriend. Soft voice, pretty face, always close enough to him like it's the most natural thing in the world. He smiles at Aster like he's curious instead of careful, like Aster is something worth figuring out instead of avoiding.

Aster tells himself he doesn't belong in any of this. He's just the guy across the hall. The one who should stay quiet, stay invisible, stay safe.

But New York apartments are too close. Walls are too thin. And some people don't stay strangers-even when they try to.