Silent String

Saturday.

The day had slipped into stillness.

Outside, the sun filtered through the curtains in soft patches, warm and golden. But inside Fourth's bedroom, it was quiet. Too quiet. The kind of silence that wasn't peaceful...it was heavy, thick with all the things left unsaid.

He lay on his bed, one arm draped over his eyes, trying not to think. Trying to just exist. But his phone buzzed on the nightstand.

A single vibration. His heart jumped before he even saw the name. He didn't need to look. He knew.

Gemini.

He reached over with a trembling hand and picked up the phone, eyes scanning the screen.

"Can we talk?"

Just four words. But something about the way they were written...plain, quiet, without drama...felt different. There was no desperation. No manipulation. Just... honesty. As if Gemini had finally dropped every wall.

Fourth stared at the message, eyes lingering longer than they should have.

He wanted to ignore it. To toss the phone aside and forget the name that still had the power to ruin his entire day. But he couldn't. Because even now...even after everything...his heart still beat a little faster whenever Gemini reached out.

He hated that. He hated that he cared.

Because when Gemini had grabbed his wrist the other day... when he hugged him so tightly and apologized like his world was falling apart... Fourth almost believed it. Almost. And that was what scared him the most.

Because the tears he shed that day weren't just from pain. They were from love.

A love so intense it burned in his chest, made it hard to breathe. A love that made him stay in that hug just a moment longer, even though he knew he shouldn't have.

He wanted to be held. He wanted to forgive. But he also wanted to scream. Because Gemini had scared him. He had hurt him. And no apology could erase the fear that clung to the memory like smoke.

Fourth's fingers hovered over his keyboard. Finally, slowly, he typed...

"What do you want?"

Not angry. Not warm. Just tired. It didn't take long before another message came.

"I was wrong. I never meant to hurt you. I've been stupid and selfish. Please. Let me explain."

Fourth read the message three times.

There was a tone in Gemini's words...one that didn't sound rehearsed this time. It was like a part of him had shattered, and this was all he could manage to offer in the wreckage.

Fourth's chest tightened. The words stirred something in him, something that ached. But pain doesn't disappear just because someone says "sorry."

His fingers moved again, slower now.

"You really hurt me, Gemini. I don't know if I can just forget that."

Another pause.

Another message.

"Can we meet tonight? I need to explain."

Fourth blinked. Tonight? Why now? Why tonight?

His instinct screamed at him to block Gemini. End it. Protect himself. Because that was what this might be, wasn't it? Just another way for Gemini to pull him in, to wrap him back up in that same cycle of control and apologies, apologies and control.