CHAPTER 447: SHIFT IN PERSPECTIVE

"How could it be just love?" Ollie asked as if defeated.

For some reason, he was pretty sure that it had to be something worse, or maybe a different strain?

Because what he’d read and why he liked romance books was that they said that love was supposed to make you feel great, floaty, warm, and starry-eyed. But he felt nauseous. His stomach churned, and his vision was blurry.

His heart thumped too loudly. His fingers were twitchy. His brain? Scrambled eggs.

This couldn’t possibly be normal, right? Or maybe it was because it wasn’t love?

He had grievances, which his brother apparently sympathized with. "I—I think I understand," he said solemnly. "I was like that too. Back when I didn’t really get what was happening. It was scary. I thought I was dying."

Ollie perked up immediately. "You—You figured it out?! You recovered?!"

Luca nodded, face serious, tone soft. "Well, not exactly. But it was more manageable once I learned more. Once I understood myself."

Ollie inched closer. "How? What worked for you?"

Luca tapped his chin thoughtfully.

"Talking about it helped. A lot. As well as asking for assistance." He smiled a little and blushed a lot. "Mostly talking to Xavier. He’s been invaluable. He even helped me study."

"Study?" Ollie squinted. "Wait—what were you studying?"

At that, Luca leaned forward. Expression grim. Voice lowered like he was about to whisper the name of an ancient forbidden technique.

"It’s still the books...But I realized they weren’t exactly truthful."

Ollie blinked. "...What?"

Luca nodded gravely. "They didn’t cover everything. They missed the real secrets. The true triggers. Like...wall slams..." he hesitated, voice going reverent, "They don’t really tell you everything."

"Wall slams?!" The blonde looked like he’d been physically slapped by the idea.

"Yes," Luca said seriously. "Xavier taught me how to do it. It really helped me learn about myself."

"You’re telling me that helped with your...feelings?!"

Luca nodded again, more enthusiastic now. "You should try it too! Especially if you think you’ve got the drums. If it doesn’t help, we can always ask Princess Kira. Or someone with more experience."

Ollie had gone so still that it was alarming. The idea of wall slamming someone seriously sounded crazy, but it seemed like his good brother was standing by it. Maybe he ought to try? Especially since manly men should probably know how to do it. Even his brother got taught...

But just as he pondered on the advice, he gasped as he remembered something important.

"Oh! And I also asked Mom for help!"

"Wow! Yeah, she should know a lot about this! What did Marquise Julienne say about it, brother?" Luca asked, excited to compile more relevant knowledge.

Ollie lit up. "Well, she didn’t outright say it was love. But she told me something really weird—and kind of smart?"

Luca leaned in.

"She said... to picture that person in a family photo. You know, like with someone else. A partner. Kids. Pets. A house and maybe a garden—but without me in it. Then to see how I’d feel about it."

Luca’s eyes widened, the glow around his temples pulsing faintly as horror dawned.

Ollie tilted his head. "If it’s bothering you that much, then maybe it’s time to start thinking about it."

Luca, already pale, went absolutely ghost white.

Because, of course, when his brother said that, his brain followed the instructions.

It conjured the image.

Xavier, smiling gently beside someone else. Holding their hand. Bending down to kiss their forehead. Cuddling someone else to sleep. Laughing, or just doing anything, something, with someone who wasn’t him.

Luca clutched his shirt. "No. No, no. That’s not allowed. He can’t. He won’t. He wouldn’t—"

Ollie blinked at him. "Luca?"

"I don’t feel so good about that," Luca whispered, looking personally attacked.

"Well," Ollie said slowly, "Then that means you’re not just friends. Also, he’s already your husband, so I think that is great."

Luca nodded, still a little shellshocked, but remembered to ask how Ollie reacted, "Then what about you, brother? Were you fine with it?"

"Me? Well...no. I didn’t like it either."

"Oh! Then doesn’t that answer the question?" Luca asked with a smile, because in his mind, it made sense.

But then Ollie, looking genuinely troubled, admitted, "I’ve never thought about Kyle like that before. Ever. But... my mom said I should try looking at the forums. For, you know, a different perspective." He tugged at his collar, sheepish. "I was just worried, maybe I was reading too much into things, like those family friends who got into a mess because they confused obsession with love and ruined everything. And well, I didn’t exactly tell my mom that I was the one having a problem. I told her it was a friend."

"You didn’t tell her?"

"Well, I did, but I didn’t tell her it was me because what if she got mad? Then won’t that be a problem because my mom actually knows him?! Won’t he get decapitated?!"

"Oh wow. You actually thought about that! It’s nice that you care about him!" Luca exclaimed, thinking that he probably cared a lot to be able to factor such things in.

"What?! No! It’s just that it might be unfair if he got decapitated like that!" Ollie insisted, blushing as he scuttled around.

But Luca didn’t focus on this as he was curious about why the forums mattered. "Would the forums really help, brother?"

"Well, I guess we won’t know until we look."

Curious and mildly horrified, Luca pulled up the forum on his terminal. A few taps later, and there it was—

A thread. No, multiple threads. All titled in some variation of Xavier’s name or "School Grass Appreciation."

"What is—OH." Luca blinked, leaning closer. There were hundreds of posts. Photos. Clips. Videos.

He scrolled slowly, unable to take his eyes off the flood of materials.

He paused. Then hesitated. Then, slowly, he saved one where Xavier was adjusting his collar mid-spar, looking particularly nice.

Actually... maybe all of them should be saved for research.

Meanwhile, Ollie hesitated before typing in ’Kyle Nox.’

Then choked.

There were so many threads.

Hundreds of posts.

Thousands of photos.

And Kyle looked...different? Glorious? Extremely model-esque?

"Who is this?!" Ollie yelped, pointing to one of the images. "This guy looks like he walked off an ad!"

Luca peered over. "Huh? But doesn’t Kyle always look like that?"

Ollie gawked, his hair antenna standing on end at this unbelievable situation. "How can you say that?! I see him daily!"

"But brother, it’s really him. Look at him now."

They both turned slowly to peek at Kyle, who was speaking with Xavier and Jax at the side.

He was tall—really tall. Towering, broad-shouldered, the kind of physique that could bench press a person. His shoulders were so wide they looked like they were designed for carrying the burdens of the galaxy—and maybe, just maybe, a tired mechanic.

His lips moved as he spoke, that same frustratingly sly smile curving like it knew secrets Ollie didn’t. Since when did he have that jawline? Sharp, sculpted, a menace. And his eyes—what about those eyes?! Had they always been so intense? Maybe Ollie never noticed because Kyle was usually carrying him or towering behind him. Or maybe—just maybe—it was illegal to look this good all the time, and no one told him.

The blonde turned bright red as his mental image of the same guy collapsed. How was it possible that this was the same guy he’d been seeing every day?!

Luca nodded sagely. "See? Wasn’t that just from earlier? It’s even the same background."

The two brothers immediately looked at each other, then scrambled to close their holographic screens and hide their burning faces because the giants outside the barrier suddenly looked over.

As if they could tell that they were looking.

Outside their safe space, people could only see faint shadows and the occasional dramatic hand gestures.

Jax raised a brow. "Are they okay?"

It was a good question—but also a bit late, considering both poor guys had just found an overwhelming ocean of anonymous love confessions dedicated to their so-called "friends," dating back who-knows-how-long, written in fonts that screamed passion and posts that ranged from poetic to downright scandalous.

Meanwhile, as the fragile, bubble-wrapped worlds of these two pure-hearted brothers shattered under the weight of high-definition thirst posts and ultra-HD jawlines, two very aware, very interested suitors—who absolutely could read lips—were doing their best to keep it together.

Because watching them come to the slow, painful realization that yes, their "platonic" feelings might actually be romantic was like watching kittens discover fire: adorable, horrifying, and impossible to look away from.