Over the next month, their project became a ritual of vulnerability. They traded cameras, capturing the flinch in a look, the tension in a clenched jaw, the way Mags looked when she thought no one was laughing at her jokes.

He kissed her then, and it felt like the first time a photo finally clicked into focus. It wasn't soft like the movies; it was desperate and clumsy, tasting of peppermint and the terrifying realization that he was handing her the power to break him.

"I can't be your secret project, Leo," she snapped, her eyes bright with tears. "And I can't be the person you see in those photos all the time. It’s too much pressure to be that real."