Jayfer : The end game

Closeness💌

But Keifer… he was just standing there. Like the noise didn’t touch him. Like nothing could shake him.

And yet… I knew. I knew the way he had looked at me at breakfast, the way his gaze lingered now when no one else noticed.

My heart raced, even as I clapped and cheered with everyone else. Because this morning was only the beginning.

And I already felt like surviving three days here—sharing the same air, the same field, the same nights under the same stars—was going to be the hardest challenge of all

Keifer's POV

I’ve always been an early riser, but this morning was different.

The first sound I heard wasn’t my alarm or Percy’s snoring. It was the muffled chaos from the room across the hall—laughter, the scrape of chairs, girls talking all at once.

Her room.

Jay Jay.

I stayed still for a moment, staring at the ceiling, my chest tightening. It’s reckless, how my mind knew her voice even when it was buried under three others. Light, hurried, slightly breathless. She was probably trying to calm her friends down, the way she always did.

And all I could think was—if I opened that door right now, would I see her messy hair, her half-smile, the way she bites her lip when she’s rushed?

I turned over and sat up. No. I couldn’t think like that. Not here. Not when Aries was across the hall with me. Not when Yuri and Percy noticed everything.

But wanting didn’t listen to reason. It never did.

By the time I was dressed, my friends were already loud. Percy was bragging about how he’d win every game today. Yuri was cracking jokes that made Aries roll his eyes.

I walked out with them, hands in my pockets, face as blank as stone.

And then—her door opened.

Jay Jay stepped out with her friends, laughter spilling with them into the hall. She looked fresh, her hair loose, sunlight from the windows hitting her skin just right. She stopped when she saw us—when she saw me.

For half a second, her eyes met mine. Wide, startled. And my pulse leapt.

But I forced myself to look away, steady and slow, following my friends. No expression. Just cold. Because Aries was right there, and because one slip was all it would take for everything to break.

Still, I couldn’t stop thinking: If it weren’t for these walls, these people, these eyes watching—I’d have said something. Just one word. Just to her.

The dining hall was a mess of noise and clattering trays. Percy was already making the professors laugh, Yuri was teasing the girls at the next table, and Aries—always Aries—sat sharp and silent, watching everything.

I sat with them, but my attention wasn’t on the food. It was across the room.

Jay Jay. Sitting with her friends near the window, sunlight spilling around her like it belonged there. She was laughing, tucking her hair behind her ear, her plate barely touched because her friends kept stealing bites.

I told myself not to look. To focus on my own plate. But when her eyes suddenly lifted—straight into mine—I froze.

For a second, the whole room blurred. It was just her. Just us.

Then she dropped her gaze too quickly, cheeks flushing as if she’d been caught. Her friends didn’t notice. But I did.

And I hated how badly I wanted to stand, walk across the hall, and sit next to her. Not as a classmate. Not as Aries’s friend. Just as me. Just as hers.