!! (Writing order is top is most recent and bottom is the beginning of the story) !!

**Maxwell and Lauren are dating, Maxwell and Eleanor are siblings!

Lauren is warmth people can lean into.
Maxwell is restraint pretending not to want warmth at all.

The reason they work is because neither of them is actually what they first appear to be. People assume Lauren is softer than she is because she’s nurturing, emotional, and approachable. People assume Maxwell is colder than he is because he’s distant and unreadable. In reality, they’re both deeply loyal, deeply emotional people who learned opposite survival methods. Lauren reaches outward. Maxwell folds inward. She fills silence to comfort people; he uses silence to protect himself. But both of them notice everything, remember everything, and love in ways that linger.

Dating Maxwell changes Lauren in subtle ways. She becomes quieter around him sometimes, not because she’s shrinking, but because she realizes silence with him isn’t uncomfortable. Meanwhile, Lauren completely ruins Maxwell’s carefully controlled distance without even trying. She sits too close, steals his cigarettes just to throw them away, falls asleep against him, nags him about sleeping more, touches his rings absentmindedly while talking. And Maxwell—who hates being understood—starts letting her see things anyway. Tiny things. The object he never explains. The way he watches her when she laughs too hard. The way he stands slightly behind her in crowded places without thinking about it. They become the kind of couple that doesn’t look traditionally soft, but feels inseparable once you notice the details.


Maxwell and Lauren

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