Of Quiet Fire—When I fell in love with my friend father

He’s far too calm for a man his age. Too observant, as if he knows when I’m lying even before I speak. Alaric Liu Grayson is not the kind of man I can simply ignore. I’ve tried. Over and over. But his eyes always pull my thoughts back to him—slowly, gently, and never forcefully, like a current I cannot resist.





I shouldn’t feel this way. Not for a man so much older.



Not for the father of someone in my year.



Not for someone who’s supposed to be a guardian figure, not the center of my heart’s gravity.