He doesn't text lightly.
He texts:
Are you both awake?
Zane replies almost instantly.
Yeah. Why?
Can I come over?
A pause.
Then:
Of course. You good?
He doesn't answer that part.
Zane's penthouse is brighter than his apartment.
Glass walls.
City lights.
Space.
Sunny is already there when he arrives.
They're both standing when he walks in.
Zane reads tone first.
"You look like something happened."
Sunny's face tightens.
"Is Laura okay?"
"She's fine," he says immediately.
They both exhale.
Then Zane narrows his eyes.
"Then what is it?"
They sit.
Axel doesn't pace.
He doesn't stall.
He just looks at them.
Steady.
There's no nervousness in him.
Just clarity.
"She fell asleep on me."
Sunny blinks.
"…Okay?"
"On my shoulder," he adds.
Zane waits.
Sunny leans forward slightly.
"And?"
He doesn't look away.
"I think I'm falling for her."
Silence.
Actual silence.
Zane studies him carefully.
Not smirking.
Not teasing.
"Are you serious?"
Axel doesn't nod.
He doesn't need to.
His gaze doesn't waver.
Zane sees it.
Sunny sees it.
The air shifts.
Sunny exhales slowly.
"Oh my god."
Not mocking.
Almost relieved.
"I've been shipping you two for five years," she says.
Zane shoots her a look.
"What?"
"Since you found me at fourteen. It was obvious."
"It was not obvious," Axel says calmly.
Sunny crosses her arms.
"You've been orbiting each other since day one."
"We were friends," he replies.
"We are friends," Zane corrects.
There's a difference.
Axel considers that.
"That's what I thought," he says.
Zane leans forward slightly.
"But?"
Axel's jaw shifts subtly.
Sunny finishes it for him.
"That's changed, hasn't it?"
He doesn't answer immediately.
He doesn't rush the acknowledgment.
He replays the bench.
The word safe.
The chocolate.
Her head on his shoulder.
The way she didn't move when she woke.
Something inside him settles into alignment.
"Yes," he says.
It's quiet.
But final.
Sunny smiles softly.
Not triumphant.
Not smug.
Just warm.
Zane leans back.
"Okay."
That's it.
No jokes.
No teasing.
No pushing.
Because they see it.
The steadiness in him isn't confusion.
It's certainty.
And that's new.
For the first time, Axel didn't stay silent.
He named something.
And nothing collapsed.
The room remains intact.
The city lights flicker behind the glass.
Zane stands.
"You going to tell her?"
Axel doesn't answer that.
Not yet.
But for the first time—
he's not pretending he doesn't know the truth.