Chapter 5 Blueprints and Broken Armor

Avery was already regretting this the second she rang the doorbell.

Jace had texted her the night before-"My house. Saturday. Carnival planning. I'll try not to ruin everything. 3pm."

She'd stared at the message for a solid five minutes before typing back, "Fine. I'll bring the glue gun and emotional restraint."

Now she was standing on his porch, clutching her project bag like it might shield her from whatever weirdness lived inside Jace Carter's home.

The door swung open.

He was wearing a black hoodie, barefoot, holding a popsicle.

"Seriously?" she said.

"What?" He stepped aside to let her in. "Creative fuel."

His house was quiet. Warm, actually. A little messy, but lived-in. Family photos lined the hallway-his older sister in graduation robes, a younger Jace in a Halloween cape, the kind of soft life moments that caught her off guard.

They set up in the dining room-poster boards, carnival sketches, venue maps.

For a while, it was... surprisingly chill. Jace actually focused. He sketched ideas for booth layouts while she wrote out the supply list. No insults. No chaos.

Just pencils scratching and the occasional click of her highlighter.

Then she asked the question.

"So, why carnival?"

He looked up. "What do you mean?"

"I mean... why'd you suggest it? You don't exactly scream nostalgia."

Jace twirled the pencil between his fingers again, slower this time. "My mom used to take me and Maya to this traveling carnival every summer. Before... everything got complicated."

Avery blinked. "Oh."

"She liked the lights," he said, voice quieter. "Said they made everything look magical, even for just a night."

A beat of silence.

Avery nodded, unsure what to say. Vulnerable Jace was... not something she'd planned for.

"I was seven when she left," he added.

She looked at him then. Really looked. And the armor he usually wore-sarcasm, swagger, smirks-it was cracked just enough for her to see the kid underneath.

"I'm sorry," she said, and meant it.

He shrugged. "It was a long time ago."

But something had shifted again. She felt it settle in the room like dust after a storm. Neither of them moved. The air between them was tight with something unnamed.

"You're not what I thought," she murmured.

"Scary, right?" he said, but the smile didn't reach his eyes.

They went back to planning after that, but the vibe had changed. Softer. Warmer. And when Avery left later that evening, she caught herself smiling the whole drive home.

She hated that.

But not as much as she thought she would.

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