“What is the most ridiculous thing you have ever believed?” Dante questions, arms extended straight out at his sides as he wobbles along an elevated brick wall, struggling to balance himself.

Retreating my hands from my pockets, I pull out my small cigarette box and a lighter.

After retrieving a cigarette, I light it and shove the box back into my jacket. I do the same with my lighter.

As I remove the stick from my mouth, light smoke mixes with the crisp, snowy air around us.

Lifting my head, I meet Dante’s gaze as he comes to a hault.

“What do you mean?” I ask, feeling slightly confused.

He lowers himself so that he is sitting, feet dangling from over the edge. His mitted hands fall into his lap as he awkwardly fidgets with them.

Glancing at his fingers, he begins, “Have you ever had a moment where—“ Pausing, he bites his bottom lip. “Where realization hits you, and you’re just like, ‘holy fuck, I’m an idiot!?’”

I snort, the corners of my lips ticking upwards, but I quickly sober my features.

“Yeah,” I respond, placing the cigarette back into my mouth.

He huffs out a breath of air, and I watch while it disintegrates.

A moment later, I return the question. “Have you?”

He grins and nods. “Oh, yes, plenty of them, but I have to admit, the most disappointing moment was when I realized Santa isn’t real.”

Tilting my head, I furrow my brows and stare up at him judgingly. “You believed in that shit?”

His attention shifts to me. “You didn’t?”

I shake my head.

“Well, Aaron, I wonder how we came to be then.” he muses, his grin dimming just a little.

Leaning against the wall, I stare ahead of me, at the snow-covered streets and the roads masked with ice.

“One fuck-o and one fuck-up.” I mumble, feeling numb. “Sounds pretty perfect to me.”

A chunk of snow falls onto my head when Dante kicks the wall, and I decide it is safer to not be within his vacinity.

“Huh?” he breathes, his face contorted into an odd expression of perplexity.

“You tell me,” I shrug, taking the cigarette out of my mouth again and dropping it onto the pavement.

Squishing it beneath my shoe, I sniffle.

Christ, it’s cold out here.

Hopping down from the wall, Dante lands with a faint thump before approaching me. “Actually, I would like to reverse that.”

I peek up at him once. “The hell is that supposed to mean?”

He plops down onto the bench behind me, and I eventually turn to face him.

Twisting his head around, he stares up at me.

“Tell me about the dumbest thing you ever thought of, whether it’s sappy or not.”

My jaw locks, and I can feel my walls going back up.

“I’m not a sappy person.”

He frowns and rubs the back of his head. “Eh, I don’t know.”

“I’m not.” I argue, my voice sounding more defensive than intended.

He dips his head down but continues to watch me expectantly. “Am I getting to you, Aaron Jacks Alore?”

I cringe. “Don’t say my full name, weird-ass.”

With a sigh, he crosses his left leg over his right. “Would it be better if I sang it? Aaron—“

I cut him off before he can continue. “I swear to fucking god, Upton, keep that shit up, and I’ll rip your vocal chords from your throat, then strangle you with them.”

“Ah,” he closes his eyes and rests his head against the back of the city bench. “Making threats now? What are we, enemies to lovers?”

A shiver racks my body.

“Don’t repeat that ever again.” I warn him, the idea making me queasy.

“Why, are you still stuck on Cassie?”

The hairs on my arm stand up, and my chest tightens at the mention of her.

“Don’t bring her up.”

“Why not?” he questions, interest piqued.

My heary cracks as I truthfully tell him, “I don’t want to speak about her.”

He fumbles with his lip again for a moment before a look of realization fades over his features.

“Because you’re not over the ‘us’ that you two shared.”

He is not wrong, but I am not telling him that.

Rolling my eyes, I take a much-needed step back and groan, “Fuck off.”

A smile takes over his face. “That’s okay. I am content with my Nattie anyway—oh my gosh, she bought this new perfume, and on my soul, I could drown in it.”

An uncomfortable, warm feeling mixes with the familiar, anxious sensation in my chest.

“Yeah?” I prompt him to keep talking, grateful that the focus is off of me.

“Oh, heck yeah,” he nods, smirking. “She smells like Heaven. I love her with everything in me.”

“Are you guys together yet?”

His face falters. “No, but I’m waiting for the right moment. She deserves it to be perfect, considering she is, and I’m not ready yet.”

“How come?”

“Uh,” he shifts around awkwardly. “You know.”

“Nah, I don’t.”

“Pretend you do for my sake. Save my dignity.”

“Okay,” I let out a heavy breath. “That makes sense.”

“Thank you. But one day,” he vows. “One day we will be each others.”

I can’t help but laugh at his seriousness.

As if they aren’t already.

They look at each other as if one is holding the stars, and the other is the galaxy to place them in.

Natalia is the sun that brings out the glow in Dante.

He has always been himself, but he never truly started living it out until she came along.