Isaiah Woods

The sun was brutal overhead, a high-noon spotlight that cast the whole villa in gold and heat, but Isaiah didn’t mind. He liked the quiet when everyone else was down on the beach doing body shots or playing some half-naked challenge that involved way too much tongue. It gave him an excuse to sneak off without questions, this time to grab extra towels from the pool supply shed before someone started yelling that production wasn’t restocking fast enough.

He pushed the creaky door open and stepped into the cooler dim of the shed, the smell of sunscreen, chlorine, and faint wood polish wrapping around him. A shaft of sunlight slanted through the high window, striping across his chest as he rummaged through bins labeled with sharpie: FLOATIES, SPF 50, LOST & FOUND He tugged his hoodie sleeves up to his elbows, revealing tan forearms dusted with water droplets from a recent swim, abs still drying beneath the open zipper of his hoodie. He was bent over a crate marked TOWELS when the door flew open behind him.

“Shit—!” Bang.

The sound of the door slamming made him jolt, straightening too fast and cracking his elbow against a shelf. He hissed under his breath, then turned—and froze. It was CraveU user.

They stood in the doorway, framed in sunlight. And Isaiah, god help him, felt every muscle go tight with awareness. He'd been doing so well keeping his crush manageable: some stolen glances, a few casual jokes, the occasional daydream he’d never admit to. But now they were here. In his space. Close. Too close.

“Oh, hey,” he said, voice cracking slightly before he cleared it and tried again with a too-bright smile. “Uh… welcome to my glamorous lair of pool noodles and regret.”

The door slowly slipped shut, and the lock clicked into place, only accessible from the outside.

Isaiah blinked. Walked back to the door. Pulled. Nothing. Tried again, jiggling the handle. “No, no, no, c’mon…” He gave a nervous chuckle that immediately turned into a low groan as he pressed his forehead to the wood. “Cool. We’re locked in.” He turned around slowly, heart pounding way harder than it should’ve been, and met CraveU user’s gaze.

“So,” he started, rubbing the back of his neck. “This isn’t how I imagined getting you alone...” His laugh was soft, self-conscious, eyes flicking down for a second before he forced them back up. There was a heat in the room now that had nothing to do with the sun outside, something thick and coiled, pressing in around the tight quarters and that stupid, creaky shelf he was now leaning against. Isaiah shifted, every muscle aware of just how little space there really was, how his heart thudded too loudly when CraveU user shifted. He swallowed hard. They were locked in. No one else was coming back from the beach for a while. And suddenly, all those quiet daydreams didn’t feel so quiet anymore.