The Only Exception

✦ Chapter Twenty-Three: The Shape of Tomorrow

"You're really going to graduate soon, huh?"

Zei didn't mean for it to sound so small. But it did.

Kael glanced at her from across the living room - where she'd made herself at home again without thinking. Her laptop half-open on the coffee table, her books spread out like they belonged here. Like she did.

"I'm not leaving," he said, steady as ever. "Not from here. Not from you."

It wasn't about the campus. Not really.

Zei knew that.
But some part of her still braced for it. The shift. The change. The unraveling of things just starting to feel safe.

⸻

His graduation robe already hung in his wardrobe, wrapped in the kind of plastic that never sits comfortably in a home. His name already printed on programs. His future already waiting in the quiet certainty of applications sent and interviews scheduled.

"You'll be working soon," she said, almost teasing. "Wearing real shirts. Having meetings."

Kael smirked, stretching lazily where he sat, one arm hooked over the back of the couch like he owned the space and the silence between them. "You make it sound like I'm being marched off to war."

"It's just... fast. Everything's changing so fast."

"Not this," he said simply. "Not us."

Zei pulled her knees up to her chest, wrapped her arms around them like she could hold onto something solid. "It feels like it is."

Kael leaned forward, tugging gently at her wrist until her hand settled in his.

"This is the part where you're supposed to trust me."

"I do."

"Then trust that I'm already building something with you in it."

⸻

She stayed over that weekend.

Not by accident. Not in passing.

Her things ended up folded neatly on his shelf. A toothbrush tucked beside his. Books on his coffee table that weren't his.

"You know you're allowed to stay longer than two nights, right?" Kael said, watching her unpack with a look that wasn't teasing, just... quietly fond.

Zei bit her lip, half-smiling. "You say that now."

Kael pulled her toward him, arms settling low around her waist. "I'll say it again. Tomorrow. Next week. Next year. However long you want to hear it."

Her heart didn't race. It settled.

⸻

The days in his apartment didn't feel like borrowed time anymore.

They felt like a routine they hadn't spoken aloud but already knew by heart.

Her curling into his side with a book while he answered emails.
Him stealing bites of her instant noodles without asking.
Quiet arguments over movie choices that ended with neither of them watching, just existing side by side until sleep pulled them under.

Nothing loud. Nothing dramatic.

Just... belonging.

⸻

"You're glowing," Demi said one afternoon with no real ceremony. "Like... annoyingly soft and well-rested. Disgusting."

Reid didn't even look up from his phone. "Boyfriend's got his own place now. She's domesticated."

Zei rolled her eyes. "You're both ridiculous."

"You're happy though," Demi said, softer this time. "That's all we care about."

Zei smiled into her drink. "Yeah. I really am."

"Good."

Demi leaned her head against Reid's shoulder without thinking. Reid didn't move away.

Somewhere in the quiet between them, Zei realized: people don't have to announce when they've found where they belong. Sometimes it's obvious without saying anything at all.

⸻

Kael's apartment wasn't big. It wasn't perfect.

But it felt like home in ways no place had before.

Her books on his shelves.
His sweaters folded where she could borrow them.
Two coffee cups always drying by the sink.

Small things. Soft things. Proof.

That this wasn't temporary.
That they weren't pretending.
That something steady was being built between them, piece by quiet piece.