The studio wasn't quiet anymore.
Now, people looked at them. Whispered. Nudged each other when Ayden and Luca stood too close or shared a smile. Their collection had become the buzz — not just for design, but for drama.
Ayden pretended not to notice.
But Luca saw the way his shoulders stayed tense. The way his jaw clenched whenever someone glanced too long.
"You okay?" Luca asked one evening, threading beads onto a sheer panel.
"Fine."
Luca sighed. "You keep saying that."
"I don't like being observed like we're part of the spectacle."
"You kissed me in public."
"I know," Ayden muttered. "That was... brave. Stupid. Brave-stupid."
Luca grinned. "You're still adjusting."
"To what?"
"To being loved."
Ayden looked up.
Luca didn't say it teasingly.
He said it gently. As a fact.
And Ayden felt it everywhere.
Later that night, back at Ayden's apartment — a sleek little top-floor flat with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves and not a single throw pillow — Luca sat on the couch with his legs propped up on the coffee table.
"You're gonna ruin the aesthetic," Ayden murmured, folding his arms.
"I am the aesthetic," Luca replied, grinning.
Ayden rolled his eyes but leaned into him anyway.
"Do you think this works... long-term?" he asked quietly.
Luca didn't need to ask what he meant.
"This?" Luca said, tapping Ayden's heart. "Yes. You and me? Absolutely."
"But what if after graduation, you leave? What if I stay? What if it gets... complicated?"
Luca turned to him fully. "Then we make it work. I don't fall in halfway, Ayden."
Ayden searched his face for lies.
Found none.
Luca leaned closer, voice soft. "You want forever?"
Ayden nodded. Once. Barely.
"Then I'll learn how to sew time into it."
That night, Luca fell asleep with his head in Ayden's lap.
Ayden didn't move for hours.
He just stared down at him, fingers in his hair, whispering promises into the dark.
"Stay. Even when I get weird. Even when I panic."
Luca, half-asleep, murmured back, "Always."