Better Late

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Pairing: MM
Heat: 🌶️🌶️🌶️ Scorching
Tropes: Friends to Lovers, Bi Awakening, Pillow Wall

He’s crashing on my couch after his divorce. I’ve been in love with him for seven years. The pillow wall between us isn’t going to hold.

NOAH has been in love with his best friend since college. He’s made peace with it—sort of. Ben is straight, married, and completely off-limits. Until Ben shows up at his door, divorce papers signed, with everything he owns in a single cardboard box.

BEN thought he had his life figured out. Good job, nice house, stable marriage. Then his wife told him he was like living with furniture—reliable, steady, and completely devoid of passion. Now he’s sleeping on his best friend’s vintage loveseat and questioning everything he thought he knew about himself.

When the loveseat destroys Ben’s back, they do the only logical thing: share a bed with a pillow wall between them. It’s fine. It’s totally fine. They’re adults. They can handle it. Except the wall keeps getting smaller. The touches keep lingering longer. And Ben is starting to notice things about Noah he never let himself see before.

You’ll love this if you enjoy:

✓ Seven years of pining finally paying off
✓ Bi awakening with emotional depth
✓ The pillow wall trope done right
✓ Found family and healing after divorce
✓ “Oh… I think I’ve always known”

Better Late is a 75,000-word MM contemporary romance featuring a pining artist who’s waited seven years, a recently divorced man discovering his bisexuality, one ridiculous pillow wall, and a guaranteed happily ever after.

Read Chapter One Free

Noah

The buzzer had been broken for three months.

Noah knew this because he’d filed exactly four maintenance requests, received exactly zero responses, and had resorted to propping the building’s front door open with a brick he’d stolen from the construction site on Fifth. Very legal. Very stable adult behavior.

So when the buzzer actually worked—that angry, rattling bleat that sounded like a dying goat—he nearly knocked over his entire jar of dirty brush water.

“Shit.” He caught it before it could ruin the half-finished illustration spread across his desk. The fox was almost done, curled at the base of an oak tree, and Noah had spent the last two hours getting the dappled light through the leaves just right.

The buzzer screamed again.

Noah abandoned the fox and crossed to the intercom, jamming the button. “Ben?”

Static. Then: “Yeah.”

One word. Flat. Exhausted.

More from Milo Hart

Love emotional MM romance with broken heroes finding love? Explore more from Milo Hart.

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MMM • Voyeur to Lover
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The Rancher’s Vow
Ranch • Second Chance
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Maple & Moth
Grumpy/Sunshine • Vermont
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Frequently Asked Questions

Is Better Late spicy?

Yes! Heat level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️ (Scorching). The tension builds through the friends-to-lovers journey and the pillow wall situation before exploding in explicit scenes. The wait makes the payoff even better.

Is this a bi awakening story?

Yes! Ben has been married to a woman and is newly divorced. Through his connection with Noah, he discovers and comes to terms with his bisexuality. The book handles this journey with care and authenticity—no internalized biphobia from the narrative.

What’s the pillow wall trope?

When two characters share a bed but create a barrier of pillows between them to maintain “appropriate” distance. Spoiler: it never works. The pillow wall is basically a countdown timer to when they stop pretending they don’t want each other.

Is there a happily ever after?

Always. Every Fractal Enigma book ends with a guaranteed HEA. Noah’s seven years of waiting pay off, and Ben finally finds the passion his ex-wife said he was missing.

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