Danny liked to think of himself as a reasonable person.

Sure, he had his flaws—he was a little dramatic, a little too prone to overthinking, and, okay, maybe he had spent years hopelessly pining for his best friend, but overall? Reasonable. Logical. A man of facts.

Which was why he refused to read into anything.

Nothing. Nada. Zip.

Because reading into things was how he had ended up heartbroken in high school.

Reading into things was why he was in this entire mess to begin with.

So, no. He was not reading into the fact that Jake had been acting weird lately.

Not even a little.

It started subtly—small things that, under normal circumstances, Danny would have totally ignored.

Like last Wednesday, when Danny had been texting Leo while lounging on the couch.

He wasn’t even doing anything—just casually scrolling, smirking at Leo’s latest rant about an insufferable customer at work, when Jake had suddenly gone silent.

Which, in itself, wasn’t that weird.

Except that Jake always had something to say.

Always some dumb comment, some teasing remark, some stupidly smug grin that made Danny want to throw things at him.

But that day? Nothing.

Just Jake, sitting next to him, arms crossed, looking like someone had personally offended his entire existence.

Danny had tried not to notice.

Tried not to overthink it.

But then—

“Who are you texting?”

Danny blinked up at him. “Huh?”

Jake nodded at the phone in Danny’s hand. “You’ve been smiling at that thing for, like, an hour.”

Danny had not.

(Okay, maybe he had. But that wasn’t the point.)

Danny just shrugged. “Leo.”

Jake’s jaw ticked.

Danny caught it—just barely.

Then, after a long beat, Jake muttered, “Oh.”

Danny frowned. “What’s with the ‘oh’?”

Jake turned away. “Nothing.”

It was not nothing.

But Danny?

Danny wasn’t reading into it.

The second sign that something was up happened on Friday morning.

Danny had woken up ready for the day.

He had plans. He was going to be productive, maybe actually start the essay he had been putting off, and—most importantly—he was going to meet Leo for coffee later.

And he had the perfect outfit in mind.

Except—

“Jake, I swear to God, if you stole my hoodie again—”

“Borrowed,” Jake corrected from the kitchen. “It’s called borrowing.”

Danny marched out of his room, glaring.

And there Jake was, sitting at the counter, wearing Danny’s hoodie (again), eating a bowl of cereal like he hadn’t just committed a felony.

Danny pointed. “That’s mine.”

Jake shrugged, taking another bite. “You weren’t using it.”

Danny groaned.

“This is the seventh one,” Danny said, exasperated.

Jake raised an eyebrow. “Oh? You’re keeping count now?”

“Yes!” Danny threw up his hands. “Because I am running out of hoodies!”

Jake just grinned. Grinned, like this was all just one big joke to him.

And maybe, normally, Danny would have let it go.

But today?

Today, he was wearing that hoodie for Leo.

And Jake knew it.

Danny narrowed his eyes.

Jake’s grin did not fade.

And suddenly, Danny had a very strong suspicion that Jake had done this on purpose.

But that would mean—

No.

Nope.

Danny was not reading into it.

Absolutely not.

Later that day, as Danny was getting ready for his coffee date, Jake had apparently decided that now was the perfect time to launch into an unexpected character analysis of Leo.

“You sure you’re into this guy?” Jake asked, watching Danny from the doorway of his room.

Danny paused, turning to look at him. “What?”

Jake shrugged, leaning against the doorframe. “I dunno. He seems… kinda pretentious.”

Danny blinked.

“What?”

Jake made a face. “I mean, you said he works at that indie bookstore, right? The one with all the poetry nights?”

Danny stared. “Okay? What does that have to do with anything?”

Jake smirked. “Sounds like the type of guy who’d call himself a ‘sapiosexual’ unironically.”

Danny snorted.

But then he narrowed his eyes.

“Are you… trying to insult my date?”

Jake grinned. “Nah, man. Just looking out for you.”

Danny crossed his arms. “Because, what? You think he’s a serial killer?”

Jake gave a very dramatic sigh. “I just think you could do better.”

Danny’s stomach flipped.

Wait.

Wait.

Nope.

Nope, not reading into that.

Danny forced a laugh. “Oh, yeah? You got someone in mind?”

Jake’s smirk froze.

His jaw tightened just slightly.

Then, after a beat, he muttered, “Forget it.”

And then he turned and left the room.

Danny just stood there.

Watching him go.

Heart pounding.

Brain racing.

Because, for the first time, Danny was starting to wonder—

What if Jake wasn’t just being weird?

What if Jake was jealous?

But no.

Nope.

Danny was not doing this again.

He grabbed his jacket, stuffed down the stupid, traitorous hope creeping into his brain, and left for his date.

And if Jake’s weird behavior lingered in his thoughts for the rest of the night?

Well.

That was definitely not his problem.