Gemotions

He ran a hand through his hair, a nervous habit he hadn't realized he'd picked up. The apartment felt too small, the silence pressing in around him. Across the room, the job application sat on the coffee table, a stark white square against the worn wood. Liam had spent hours perfecting it.

He remembered the day he and Marcus had seen the job posting together. A shared excitement had lit up their faces. Now, the shared dream felt less like a collaboration and more like a tightrope walk.

The email from HR, a polite rejection, sat in his inbox. He hadn't checked it, didn't dare. He heard Marcus’s voice in his head, the familiar cadence he'd known since kindergarten. He felt a pang in his chest, a subtle ache that he couldn't quite name.