Randoms

The Best Friend

Characters: Liam and Noah, childhood best friends.

They had been inseparable since they were six. They knew every secret, every heartbreak, every dream. Liam was getting married in a month, and a quiet, panicked feeling had been growing in his chest. It wasn’t about his fiancée; he loved her. It was about the door that was closing, the part of himself represented by Noah that he felt he was permanently sealing off.

They were at Noah’s family’s lake house, one last weekend trip before the wedding. The air was thick with unspoken words. As they sat by the fire, Liam finally broke.

“I have this… fear,” he confessed, staring into the flames. “That I’m going to wake up at forty and realise I never really knew myself.”

Noah was quiet for a long time. “Is this about me?” he asked softly.

Liam looked at him, his best friend’s face illuminated by the flickering light. The features were so familiar, so beloved. And in that moment, he understood the core of his curiosity. It wasn’t about men in general; it was about this man. It was about the love he already felt, and a desperate need to understand if it could exist in another dimension.

“Yes,” Liam whispered.