They didn't make plans to see each other again that week.
But somehow, Mira found herself walking past the shop almost every evening. Just in case. Just in case the door was open, the light was on, the silence between them still soft instead of sharp.
On Wednesday, the light was off.
On Thursday, it flickered on just as she passed, like he'd been watching too.
She stepped inside without knocking.
Jace looked up from a circuit board, grease smudged across one cheek, his mouth twitching like he'd forgotten how to smile until just then.
"You stalking me?" he asked lightly.
"Maybe."
"Good."
She sat across from him without another word, plucking a socket wrench from the table and twirling it between her fingers. The quiet stretched.
"You been okay?" he asked after a while.
"I've been thinking," she said.
"Dangerous."
"Shut up."
He chuckled.
Mira exhaled slowly. "What are we doing, Jace?"
He didn't flinch. "Living in the question."
"That's poetic. But I need more."
He leaned back, eyes narrowing. "Like what?"
"Labels. Promises. Something to hold onto that isn't just... whatever this is."
Jace set down the board. "You want us to define it?"
"I want to know if I'm the only one falling."
His mouth parted, then closed. Like he had an answer but didn't trust it yet.
"You're not," he said finally.
She met his eyes. "Then say it."
"I don't say things lightly."
"I don't want light. I want honest."
He stood, rubbing a hand through his hair. "Alright. You want it? Here it is: You're under my skin, Mira. You've been living in my head since the day you slammed your car door and told me to screw off."
Her heart fluttered in that strange, uneven way.
"I think about you when you're not here. I wait for your texts. I replay the things you say because I want to remember how they sound. I'm not good at this, but I want you."
She blinked once.
Twice.
Then stepped forward and kissed him.
It wasn't soft.
It was years of guarded hearts and second guesses colliding all at once. It was mouths that had waited too long, hands that didn't know where to land, breathless and messy and real.
When she pulled back, they were both panting.
Jace's hands stayed at her waist, trembling slightly.
"Well," he murmured, "that answers that."
---
They didn't sleep together that night.
They almost did. But Mira pulled away just before it crossed that line.
"Not yet," she said. "I want to remember this moment for what it is. Not what it turns into."
Jace nodded, forehead resting against hers. "You're worth waiting for."
---
In her apartment later, Mira couldn't stop smiling.
Not because she had him. But because for the first time in a long time, she wasn't afraid of wanting someone.
Even if they were still strangers in some ways.
Even if the twists hadn't stopped coming.
She was falling.
And this time, she wanted to.