Page 84 of Falling Into Gravity

He exhaled. “Zaire hit me up the other day. Said some white folks wanna meet about the app.”

Her eyes lit up instantly. “Wait—Plugged In?”

“Yea.”

“That’s huge, Malik.”

Slowly, he nodded his head. “It is. I don’t know if I’m even built for that kind of shit though. You know? Suits and handshakes…business cards. That world don’t feel like mine.”

She leaned in, elbows on the table, hands folded under her chin. “Why not?” Her lashes fluttered.

Malik shrugged. “Cause I made that app forus- for Crescent, for people who don’t got no voice or platform. You know how many niggas been shot and it didn’t even make the news? I ain’t tryna sell that to people who just see dollar signs. And what if I’m not enough for them? I got a record, tattoos on my face…I talk how I talk. What if they don’t see me? What if they don’tfeelme?”

It was like Aku had superpowers - the way being close to her, gave Malik permission to be soft without feeling weak. Her presence wrapped around the parts of him that used to flinch at comfort. He was safe there.She didn’t even have to touch him. Just the sound of her voice, the curl of her laugh, the way she looked at him like he was more than his scars.

He’d never had that…not like this…not even with his people.

Myesa loved him, sure. Anthony too. But their love was rough, loud, protective in a way that sometimes felt like too much pressure. Their love told him to man up when he was barely holding on. It taught him survival, not softness. Affection came through check-ins and street game, through cooked mealsand “you straight?” texts instead of hugs or long talks. That was just how they moved, no less real – just different.

Aku’s gentleness moved differently through him.

Her world felt soft but strong,like cotton draped over steel. She didn’t need to yell to be heard…didn’t need to force him to feel. Just being around her made the weight in his chest ease up, made breathing feel like less of a task. There was a strength in her softness, something undeniable in the way she took up space and made it safe for him to do the same.

With her, he didn’t have to be Key the hustler, or Malik the tech genius, or even Malik from Crescent Park with all the ghosts stitched into his back.

With her, he could just be...

That was a different kind of intimacy - one he wasn’t used to…one he didn’t know he needed until it was in his lap—laughing loud, throwing fits, calling him out on his shit, and kissing him like he was worth saving.

She didn’t rescue him. She reminded him he didn’t always need to be rescued, that sometimes, he just needed a place to land.

And somehow, she became that place even when he gave her pushback.

“Then fuck them,” she said. “But that don’t mean you don’t show up. Because even if they don’t see you, they gon’feelyou.”

Malik just stared at her, wondering where the hell she came from.

“You built something outta nothing, Malik,” she went on. “You turned code into community. You turned trauma into a tool. That’s legacy shit. That’s not small. That’s not hood. That’s genius. You are a fuckin’ genius—black man. My Wizard of Oz.” She winked, pulling on his heart.

“You were made for more—black kids. That’s what my Uncle Javen said—announced that shit to the world. And even if youdoubt it, Iseeit…every piece of you. The dark, the light, the shit you tryna hide. I see it all, and I still fuck with you heavy.”

His jaw flexed, just slightly but she noticed.

“Don’t dim just because they can’t handle the brightness of you,” she whispered. “Let ’em squint, or get some shades because you here and you’rehim.”

Malik leaned back, breathing like her words just cracked his ribs open and set something free. “You dangerous, Dorothy” he muttered. “That mouth of yours…”

“This mouth will change your life if you let it.”

He smiled, bottom grill flashing again. “I believe that.”

She reached across the table, grabbed his hand, and gave it a squeeze. “Go to the meeting. See what they talking about. But know this—you don’t need them to be valid. You already that nigga, with or without their cosign.”

And right there, in the middle of a fancy restaurant he didn’t think he belonged in, Malik felt like a fuckin’ king, dining with his queen.

chapter 15

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