Gemotions

The list was written on the back of a receipt from a local cafe, a place they’d frequented for years. "Write a song." He knew his boyfriend, Leo, enjoyed music, even had a guitar gathering dust in their closet. But writing a song? That was a vulnerability he hadn't known Leo possessed.

He ran a hand over his face. He felt a sudden, crushing sense of his own inadequacy. He looked at the receipt, then glanced towards the living room. The TV blared in the background. The familiar sounds felt wrong, intrusive.

He felt an urge to break something, to shatter the placid facade of their shared life. He closed his eyes, and the cafe receipt crinkled in his grasp.