Five years ago, Rowan and Circus had a falling out (a pretty massive one), after which Rowan promptly left town. Now he's back and hoping to get Circus to forgive him. But Circus isn't going to make it easy on him. He's also not going to let himself fall for Rowan again because it's clear that Rowan is still very much hiding who he really is. It's just too bad his heart didn't get the memo.

Oof, this one was fairly angsty! I gasped when I learned what happened between Rowan and Circus 5 years ago. I wasn't sure how you'd come back from something like that. But once you understand all Rowan's been dealing with his whole life, I could see why Circus would be willing to forgive him. Any hatred Circus had toward him would pale in comparison to the level of self-loathing Rowan had, anyway.

While I don't condone what Rowan did when they were in high school, my heart broke for him now. The internalized homophobia and the awful things he had to grow up listening to his family say about queer people would be hard for anyone to deal with. My heart broke for Circus, too; he was so lonely and wanted more than anything a family to love. I enjoyed seeing them find their way back to each other and seeing Rowan slowly accept himself and finally be brave enough to pursue something with the one guy he's always wanted.