THE WAY WE'VE ALWAYS BEEN

Ace honestly couldn't remember the last time he'd spent more than a few days without Cassian around.

He was just sort of... there. In the background of almost every memory Ace had, whether it was school mornings, birthday parties, family holidays, or the countless afternoons they'd spent doing absolutely nothing together. Cassian had somehow become a permanent fixture in his life, like the old photographs on his bedroom wall or the ridiculous collection of things they'd collected as children.

He knew Cassian's coffee order, his favourite snacks, and the exact expression he made whenever someone annoyed him. He knew that Cassian was physically incapable of getting out of bed on time, that he always lost his phone despite never putting it down, and that whenever he was nervous, his fingers would start playing with the rings he wore.

Cassian knew him just as well.

Which was unfortunate, considering Ace was trying very hard to pretend he wasn't completely, hopelessly in love with him.

It was a relatively recent problem. Or at least, that's what Ace liked to tell himself.

Before the stolen hoodies and the late-night conversations that somehow lasted until three in the morning, there had just been two little boys who couldn't go a day without getting into trouble together.

He still remembered meeting Cassian.

They'd been around six, standing in the school playground on a particularly sunny afternoon. Ace had been sitting on a bench, happily eating a packet of biscuits, when a boy with messy hair and a freshly scraped knee wandered over.

Cassian stopped in front of him.

"Can I have one?"

Ace looked down at the packet, then back up at him.

"Why?"

"Because I'm hungry."

"Then get your own."

Cassian frowned.

"You're mean."

"And you're annoying."

There was a brief silence before Cassian sat down beside him anyway.

For some reason, Ace didn't tell him to leave.

They spent the next ten minutes arguing over biscuits, and somehow, by the time the bell rang, Cassian had managed to eat nearly the entire packet. Ace had complained about it the whole walk home, while Cassian laughed like he'd accomplished something extraordinary.

Neither of them knew it then, but they'd just started something that would last years.

Ace could still picture that afternoon if he tried hard enough. The bright yellow playground equipment, the smell of freshly cut grass, and the way Cassian had kept picking at the scab on his knee despite Ace repeatedly telling him to stop.

He remembered Cassian asking if they could sit together at lunch the following day.

Ace had pretended to think about it.

"Maybe."

Cassian had looked horrified.

"Maybe?"

"Depends if you're annoying tomorrow."

"I won't be."

He was, of course.

But Ace saved him a seat anyway.

Now, sitting in his bedroom on an otherwise ordinary afternoon, Ace watched Cassian wander through his doorway without so much as a knock.

He was wearing one of Ace's black hoodies, grey sweatpants, and the sort of expression that suggested he hadn't a single responsibility in the world.