Tear Me Open (BL)
Torren Matthews is nineteen, still chasing tennis balls across his father's preferred courts for a sport he stopped loving years ago. Still being what everyone else decided he should be. He hasn't figured out much about himself yet. Who he is, what he wants, and which direction to fall. He's in no rush.
Then his sister gets engaged to Lennox Kane, and Theron Kane enters his life like a quiet disaster.
Fifteen years older. Gay in the way that makes it look easy, like he was born knowing exactly who he was and refused to apologize for it. He smokes too much, runs a company his father is quietly trying to steal from under him, and looks at Torren like a decision that's already been made, just waiting for Torren to catch up.
Theron is honest about what he wants this to be. A footnote. Something to fill the space between family events. Torren is too young, this is too complicated, and it ends before the wedding. Simple.
Toren agrees. It's not like he's interested in men anyway.
Except Theron keeps showing up. And every time he does, it gets harder to remember why it's supposed to be temporary.
The boy who didn't know what he wanted has been dismantled, carefully even, completely, without ever being asked for permission.
Theron still insists it's temporary. But there's a gap between what a man says and what he does when he thinks no one is watching.
Toren sees the difference. He's been paying attention all along.
The other is running out of ways to call it something else.