Angelo leaned back on his hands, eyes on the horizon as the wind tugged at his shirt. The view from the hill stretched endlessly—patches of green, rooftops glinting in the sun, and beyond it all, the shimmering thread of the river winding through San Felino like a secret. But Angelo wasn’t looking at any of that.
He was looking at Rainan.
“I’ve been thinking about how to say this,” Angelo began softly, “and every version I rehearsed in my head just… didn’t sound right. Too dramatic, too awkward, too soon.”
Rainan didn’t speak. He didn’t dare interrupt. His chest tightened as he watched the usually easygoing Angelo suddenly struggle with words.
“But then I remembered,” Angelo continued, “that when it’s you… I don’t have to get the words perfect. Because you’ve always understood me, even when I was quiet.”
A small smile tugged at Rainan’s lips, but his eyes were already shining.
“Rainan, I know you’ve been carrying something heavy. I see it in your silences, in the way you look at places like they’re saying goodbye to you. I don’t know all of it… but I know enough to understand you’ve been scared. Maybe you still are.”
Angelo turned to face him completely now, his knee brushing Rainan’s. “But even with all that, you still came home. You still smiled for the people here. You gave the town something to believe in again. You gave me something to believe in.”
Rainan swallowed, his throat suddenly too tight.
“And I just…” Angelo hesitated, then reached for Rainan’s hand—warm, firm, grounding. “I want you to know that whatever time we have—no matter how short, no matter how uncertain—I want to spend it with you.”
There it was. No grand declarations, no sweeping metaphors. Just truth, simple and honest and utterly disarming.
“I love you, Rainan,” Angelo said, voice steady now. “I’ve loved you since the moment I realized that no one else makes me feel more at home than you do. I don’t know how the days will unfold, but if you’ll let me, I want to be there for all of them. With you.”
Rainan closed his eyes, overwhelmed. The ache in his chest—the grief, the fear, the quiet rage at life’s cruelty—softened, not gone, but cradled by something much gentler.
He opened his eyes again, blinking back tears. “I never thought I’d get to hear that,” he whispered. “Not in this lifetime.”
Angelo gave a soft laugh, brushing his thumb over the back of Rainan’s hand. “Well, surprise.”
Rainan chuckled through the tears. “You’re ridiculous.”
“Hopelessly.”
They both laughed, the sound carried by the wind and scattered like petals over the grass. And then Rainan leaned forward, pressing his forehead gently to Angelo’s.
“I don’t know how much time I have,” he murmured. “But if there’s even a little left… I want it to be with you too.”
Angelo’s eyes closed as he let those words settle into the spaces between them, filling every corner of what once felt unfinished. He pulled Rainan close, their arms folding around each other like home.
For a while, they just held each other—saying nothing, because nothing more needed to be said. But then Rainan gently pulled back, just enough to look into Angelo’s eyes. His voice came out barely above a whisper.
“Can I kiss you?”
Angelo’s breath hitched, but he smiled, his eyes soft. “You don’t even have to ask.”
And so, under the fading light of the sky, surrounded by the quiet rustle of trees and the glow of lanterns that Angelo had strung just for him, Rainan leaned in and pressed his lips to Angelo’s.
It wasn’t rushed. It wasn’t desperate.
It was slow and warm and full of every unspoken word they hadn’t had the courage to say for years. A promise. A homecoming. A beginning, even in the face of an end.
When they pulled apart, Angelo rested his forehead against Rainan’s again, both of them smiling through the tears.
“I’ve waited a long time for that,” Angelo murmured.
“So have I,” Rainan replied softly.
And there, on the hill where everything had begun, they sat—hand in hand, hearts full, the world around them quiet and still, as if it, too, was holding its breath for them.