The Only Exception

✦ Chapter Twenty-Two: Nothing Has to Change (But Everything Will)

Zei didn't tell Demi right away.

Not because she was hiding it. Not because it was a secret.

Because it felt like... something she wanted to hold a little longer before sharing. Like sunlight warming skin after too long in the cold - you didn't announce it. You just let yourself feel it.

Something soft. Something sacred.

Something she wasn't ready to let the world poke at just yet.

⸻

"You're quieter than usual," Demi said over lunch, stabbing at her salad with mild suspicion.

"I'm always quiet."

"You're quiet in a different way."

"What does that even mean?"

"It means," Reid cut in, sliding into the seat beside Demi without asking, "she's been texting that boyfriend of hers."

Demi's eyebrows shot up. "Boyfriend?"

Zei blinked. "He's not-"
Paused.
Corrected.

"He is."

"Oh." Demi smiled, slow and soft like she'd been waiting for this. "Well. Finally."

Reid looked smug. "Told you he was serious."

"You did not."

"I heavily implied it. Same thing."

Demi gave him a look that said behave. He didn't, but he quieted.

Zei picked at the edge of her drink with her nail. "It wasn't really a big thing. We didn't... have a moment. It just happened."

"That's usually how the good ones start," Demi said.

Zei met her friend's gaze, found no teasing there. Just quiet understanding.

"You look happier," Demi said. "Less like you're bracing for something to go wrong."

Zei didn't have words for that. But it settled somewhere warm beneath her ribs.

⸻

Later, when Kael picked her up outside the library, she slid into his passenger seat with that soft, quiet kind of happiness that didn't need to be spoken aloud anymore.

"You told them?" Kael asked, pulling out onto the road.

"Kind of."

He glanced at her, amused. "Kind of?"

"They figured it out."

Kael's hand found hers between the seats without taking his eyes off the road. His thumb brushed slow circles across her skin like he didn't know how to stop anymore.

"You okay with that?"

Zei laced their fingers together. "Yeah. I'm okay."

Kael's mouth tilted at the corner, but he didn't say more. He didn't need to.

⸻

That weekend, Kael brought her to his apartment again.
No surprise this time.
No reveal.

Just... ordinary. Soft. Easy.

He cooked. She watched.

They argued about which movie to put on.
He let her win.

"I don't think letting me win counts if you make it obvious," Zei said, curled beneath a blanket that smelled like him.

Kael raised an eyebrow from the other end of the couch. "What if I like making it obvious?"

Zei rolled her eyes but smiled. "Hopeless."

"And yet, you're still here."

"Clearly my standards are suffering."

Kael only smiled at that - the real kind. The tired, fond kind that lived somewhere behind his ribs now, where she had carved out space without asking.

⸻

Later, somewhere between the second cup of tea and the slow warmth of their bodies tangled on the couch, Zei realized -

Nothing had to change.
But everything already had.

The version of herself who flinched at closeness, who counted days between texts like they meant something, who measured worth in distance -
That girl didn't live here anymore.

Here, there was only warmth. Only the quiet hum of Kael's heartbeat beneath her cheek where it rested against his chest.

"Are you falling asleep again?" Kael asked, voice soft against her hair.

"Maybe."

"Want me to wake you up later or just let you stay?"

Zei smiled against him. "You always let me stay."

Kael's arms tightened around her, not possessive. Not careful. Just certain.

"I'm learning to get better at it," he said, words folded gentle beneath the quiet. "Having you here. Knowing you want to be."

"I do."

"Good. Don't run from this anymore."

"I'm not."

Her fingers found his in the dark. Laced them together. Steady. Sure.

"You're not making this easy to forget, you know," Zei teased, sleep dragging at her words.

Kael pressed his mouth to the crown of her head. "That's the point."

⸻

Before she left the next day, Kael leaned in the doorway, watching her pull on her shoes like it was an excuse to keep her longer.

"Kenzie's been asking when I'm finally going to bring you to see her again."

Zei blinked. "Kenzie?"

Kael huffed a quiet laugh. "Yeah. Says she misses you. Apparently she loves you more than me. Great to have a little sister."

Zei smiled, warmth creeping into her chest. "She's sweet."

"She's obsessed." Kael's tone was fond. "And Mum's no better. I keep getting texts. Questions. Hints."

Zei laughed under her breath. "That sounds terrifying."

Kael smiled, softer now. "It's not. They're just... happy for me. For us."

"Is that... something you want?"

Kael's smile didn't waver. "I don't say things I don't mean. You're here. You're staying. They'll want to know the girl who makes me look less like I'm about to burn out and disappear."

Her heart pulled at something deeper. Not fear. Not doubt. Just... wonder.

"Okay," she said. "Whenever you're ready."

Kael's hand found hers again, thumb brushing slow against her skin. "I already am."

Zei smiled. "Then... me too."