For one suspended heartbeat after the kiss, the rooftop set seemed to hold its breath with them, the fake winter air biting just enough to make the silence feel brittle. Yu, still standing on aching toes with his hands looped around Artem's neck, let hope linger in Dmitri's face exactly as the scene demanded, soft and trembling and far too earnest for its own good. Then, very slowly, as if waking from a dream he had no right to have, Dmitri opened his eyes and searched Leonti's expression for the answer that would either save him or ruin him.
Leonti did not move toward him again.
