“You already know how to manipulate heat, right?” Kasey had asked Aiden.

“Heat and light are what my mom covered with me, so, yeah. Basically the only two things I’m good at.”

“If you can manipulate heat, you can manipulate cold. Just pull all of the heat out of the way. Pull it out of a space and towards yourself.”

Kasey was right, as usual. We practiced in the Ghost Office, and with the help of our connection, Aiden got it down impressively fast.

That wasn’t the problem. The problem was taking heat from a specific space, and then doing it from a distance. That was much harder.

There was a lot of excited yelling, when we got it to work. We probably could have spent a few more days practicing, but Kasey told us - in no uncertain terms - that it was time to start laying down the groundwork for our plan.

“You’ve got it, Aiden. Jamie will be right there with you. Use the connection. If you spend forever practicing, you’re going to get in your own head. Also, I’m the manager, and I said so.”

Here we are, beneath Coburn’s window, about to see whether the practice will pay off. Aiden closes his fingers around mine. Even before he opens our connection, I can sense that his calm is starting to fray. He’s clearly nervous about messing this up.

Aiden was steady when I needed him to be, and I can be steady for him now.

I speak to him using the connection. We’ve jokingly started referring to this method of communication as ‘using our indoor voices’.

You’re gonna do great, babe. We already got this to work at the Ghost Office.

I know. I know.

It’s okay if it’s not perfect the first time.

Yes.

Listen. Do you hear that?

Our heartbeats, marching in time. Aiden listens to it. The anxiety threading through his energy slowly relaxes and untangles. I experience the change with him, through our connection. It feels like a stormy ocean turning smooth.

He starts to release some of his energy. It climbs my fingers and slides up my arm. Warm, bright, and a little ticklish. He’ll be calm enough soon, focused enough. I know that Aiden can’t read my mind, but I try to help him out by envisioning the doorframe of Coburn’s office. Its shape and size, the texture of the wood.

I open my eyes and look down at my phone, leaving my hand in Aiden’s. I watch the video feed of our target.

Coburn nibbles on the bagel, then takes a quick phone call, speaking too quietly for me to hear him. The camera has very limited audio capabilities, unfortunately.

When the call is over, Coburn stands up and walks towards the door, which he’d left open. I wait until he’s a step or two away, then squeeze Aiden’s fingers.

Now, Aiden. Go.

Aiden’s eyes open, burning with white-blue magic. He stares straight ahead, his jaw tensed with effort.

On the screen, Coburn comes to a sharp stop in his office doorway. He shivers, hard enough that I can see it. He steps back, frowning, and goes to step through one more time - only to hastily retreat into his office, now looking troubled.

He waits a moment, then ventures forward and sticks his head through the doorway.

“Tom!” he calls, loud enough for the camera to pick it up. “Come here!”

There’s a brief pause, and then Coburn steps back into his office.

Aiden. Stop.

Tom, a much younger man than Coburn, appears in the doorway.

“Hello, what-?”

“Is the heating out?” Coburn interrupts.

“Sorry?” Tom leans a shoulder against the doorframe. “The heating?”

“How can you stand there? It’s freezing.”

Tom looks faintly puzzled, now. “Are you feeling well, Mr. Coburn?”

“For god’s sake, I’m perfectly fine - you’re saying you don’t feel that? Right in my doorway, where you’re standing.”

“Feel what?”

“But…” Coburn steps forward, and Tom moves back into the hall to make room for him.

Cold again, Aiden.

“You really don’t feel that? It’s like it’s ice-cold, but only in my doorway.” Coburn shivers and steps back, unable to stand the temperature for long. “Here, try one more time, will you?”

Aiden. Stop.

Once again, Tom moves into the doorway.

“I’m… not sure what we’re talking about,” he tells Coburn. “If you're cold, I can get your jacket from the coat check.”

“Tom - stay right there, will you? Can we both fit in this doorway?”

Now, Aiden, and really go hard this time. Take away all the heat.

Coburn awkwardly crams himself into the doorway next to his now very bemused employee.

“Oh my god!” Tom shudders and takes a hasty step back, his teeth chattering. “It wasn’t like that a second ago, I swear!”

“What are you saying, that it only does that when I’m in the doorway? Don’t be ridiculous. There must be an issue with the heating. Have someone from maintenance sent up. Immediately.”

Tom disappears from the camera’s view, and Coburn falls back into his office, staring at the door, his forehead furrowed.

Okay. Ready? Let it all go.

Aiden releases his hold on the heat. I feel it through our connection, but I also see it on the screen, because the cup of coffee on Coburn’s desk suddenly boils over and explodes.

Shattered porcelain goes flying in every direction. Steaming hot coffee spills all over the desk. Coburn whips around, gasping.

He stares and stares. Takes his glasses off, cleans them on his lapel, and puts them on again. The coffee is so hot that it’s burning the wooden surface of the desk, making it smoke.

Coburn twists on the spot and rushes for the door.

Cold, Aiden, cold, cold!

A muscle in Aiden’s jaw flexes. On the screen, Coburn reaches the door and gasps again. He falls back, hugging himself tightly, like he just plunged from a sauna into Arctic waters.

Aiden must have it cold, because Coburn’s breath mists, but only in the doorway.

Tom reappears.

Drop it, drop it now!

Aiden doesn’t answer, but he must have managed it, because Tom steps through the door without issue.

“I rang maintenance,” he says. “They’re sending someb- oh my - what-?”

His gaze travels over the shattered coffee cup, the spilled contents on the desk, the look on Coburn’s face.

“It exploded,” Coburn stammers. “It just - it just exploded.”

“Okay, why don’t you sit down?”

“I don’t need to sit down! Are you really telling me you can’t feel how cold that doorway is?”

Tom runs his fingers over the doorframe. “Um…”

“Oh, you are useless!” Coburn snaps. “Get out of my office. I’m taking the rest of the day off. And send someone to clean up this mess!”

Tom makes a speedy exit, clearly relieved to be excused. Coburn hesitates by the door.

Cold, Aiden, fast!

Aiden is sweating, now. It’s curling the chestnut hair that falls over his temple.

Coburn reaches his arm through the doorway, then leaps back. Cursing, he stumbles to his desk, grabs his leather briefcase, and charges for the door.

It slams closed before he can get there. All on its own, with enough force to shake the framed degrees on Coburn’s wall.

I twist to look at Aiden, almost as startled as Coburn. Did he just do that? That wasn’t even part of the plan.

Coburn freezes to the spot. His hand trembling, he takes the knob. He yanks the door open, dashes through, and vanishes into the hallway.

It’s okay. That was plenty enough for one day, anyways.

As slowly and gently as I can, I release the connection. Aiden blinks and takes a long breath. He looks at me, exhaustion taking over his face so quickly that I think he might actually pass out.

I reopen our connection and feed him a little of my own energy, just enough to get us back to the car.

My heart is glowing. I’m so fucking proud of him, I don’t know what to do with myself. I’ve never seen Aiden exhibit such tight, pinpoint control over his power before. I know that heat manipulation is something he’s really good at, but still.

He did so good. I want to kiss his face off.

But he falls asleep the second he sits down in the car. I even have to lean over and strap him in.

“You’re amazing,” I tell him, smoothing his hair out of his face, pressing a kiss to his forehead.

Aiden sleeps the entire drive home, but that’s okay. I leave one hand on the wheel and keep the other tucked around his. I talk to him every now and then, hoping that’ll help him avoid the nightmares. Roll all the windows down, so he’ll get plenty of air.

Flicking on the blinker at the exit for Ketterbridge, I expect to be hit with a wave of relief. We made it through the Collection, in and out. We made sure we were caught on the cameras. We planted our own camera. We launched phase one of the Coburn mission. And we made it back, unaccosted. It’s a fucking miracle.

But all I can think about is Aiden, how well he did, even under so much pressure, out in the open, with such high stakes to consider. The Aiden I knew at the start of summer, who spent every night alone in Kent’s attic, fruitlessly exploding reading glasses over and over again - he couldn’t have done this. Nothing close to this.

Aiden has come so far, in so many different ways. I’ll have to tell him that, when I can figure out the right words.

~~~~

“Jamie.”

I blink awake, stiff and sore and confused. It takes me a minute to place myself.

I’m in my car. My seat is all the way down, my seatbelt off. We’re parked in front of my apartment building. Aiden’s seat is all the way back, too, but he’s sitting upright. His blue eyes are fixed on my face, his hand on my knee. Peachy-pink sunlight is falling through the windshield.

I sit up, yawning so hard that my whole face gets a good stretch.

“Wha’ happen? I’m ready. Heist set up. Let’s go.”

“Nope.” Aiden breathes out a soft laugh. “That was yesterday. We did it already.”

“Oh.” I yawn again. “Why are we in the car?”

“I was actually hoping you might know the answer to that, because I don’t.”

I scan my half-asleep brain, and remember.

“Oh, right. You were asleep, and I didn’t want to wake you up. But I also didn’t want to leave you alone, so I put our seats back and figured I’d wait until you woke up, which I guess is… now?”

Aiden’s smile deepens. He doesn’t answer, just looks at me. Feeling a blush rising in my face, I turn away and fumble for my phone. It’s in the cupholder, and - it’s dead.

“What time is it?” I can hear the sleepy slur in my own words.

Aiden checks his watch. “It’s… 6:10.”

“What?” I groan. “Oh, my god. I never used to get up this early before I started dating you. You should have warned me that being your boyfriend means regular 4:00 AM wake-ups.”

“Mmkay, I said 6:10, not 4:10, and I woke you up to see if you wanted to go back to bed. But like, you know. In your actual bed.”

After a full day of driving and then a full night of sleeping in a car, my bed sounds like heaven.

“Oh, yes. Let’s go.”

Upstairs, Aiden sprawls out on top of the comforter, then props himself up on his elbows, watching me cross the bedroom with a towel.

“You’re seriously gonna shower? Right now?”

“I didn’t shower last night!”

He reaches for me. “C’mere, dummy.”

“I will, just let me do one quick thing first.”

“Is the one thing a shower?”

“Yep, be right back!”

A few minutes later, I cuddle up into Aiden’s waiting arms. He took off his shirt while I was gone, and the warmth of his skin is a magic of its own, especially on a frigid fall morning.

“My legs are sore.” He stretches them out, flexing his feet.

“Yeah, a guy your height is probably not supposed to sleep in a car that size. We’ll have to remember to take a limousine, next visit to the Bratton Collection.”

He chuckles, twisting his fingers into my damp hair. “So… no pajamas this time, huh?”

I realize that I’ve unwittingly climbed into bed wearing only my boxers.

“Oh. Um. No, I guess not.”

Aiden considers for a minute, then lets me go. I’m about to object, but then he hops out of bed, unzips his jeans, and pulls them off.

Maybe, at some point, my eyes will have had their fill of Aiden’s body. But maybe not, I don’t know. I can’t tear my gaze away, even right now, as exhausted as I am.

He climbs back into bed, his boxers slung low on his hips, and gathers me up against him. This is more bare skin than we’ve ever shared with each other.

Aiden rolls me over and folds me into his arms. I close my eyes, basking in his warmth. His chest against my back, his nose buried in my hair, his legs tangled with mine.

Remembering what he said about being sore, I reach down and work my fingertips against his bare thigh. I’m normally gentle when I touch him, but I’ve noticed that he likes more pressure when he’s hurting, so. I dig the pads of my fingers deep into his muscle, then smile to myself when he lets out a low purr of pleasure.

Somehow the feeling is equally soothing for me, and soon enough, I fall headfirst into the best sleep I’ve had in a while.

~~~~

I wake up for the second time today and find myself nestled between my two favorite people. Aiden is on one side of me, sleeping with his body curled around mine. Kasey is on the other, her cheek is resting on her hand, her hand resting on my pillow.

“Good morning,” she says quietly.

“Hi,” I whisper. “Should we talk outside? I don’t want to wake up Aiden. Yesterday took a lot out of him, I think. Did you see my note?”

I left it on the kitchen counter before I showered this morning. Kasey: Mission one, phase one = success. Tired. Explain in the morning. Love u.

“Yep. I miss the days when we could just text, but I appreciated the note. I was so stressed out, the whole time you were gone.” Her face breaks into a grin. “So? It went well?”

“Oh my god, Kase-face, I wish you could have seen it. Aiden was amazing. I’m so fucking proud of him. He was perfect. Don’t tell him I said this, but it was sort of foxy, weirdly?"

Kasey giggles. "Oh, yeah? Tell me more."

"Yeah, like, it was sexy, to watch him-”

“Jamie,” a soft voice murmurs. I twist in the bed and find Aiden’s blue eyes open. He’s looking right at me, his cheeks a little pink. “I’m - I’m up.”

“Oh.” Oops. “Hi!” I lean over to kiss his nose, then reach for the night table, grab the ghost goggles for him. He puts them on and sits up. The blanket falls to his waist.

I stare openly at Aiden’s tousle-haired, shirtless, sleepy-eyed, glasses-wearing self for a minute, then scowl when I catch Kasey doing the same thing.

“Excuse me.”

“Oh, come on, Jamie, a girl can’t window shop? My man is literally invisible. Yours is a walking thirst-trap, so. Don’t be selfish.”

“Selfish?”

“Alright, alright,” Aiden leans to grab his shirt from the floor, clearly suppressing a laugh. “That’s more than enough of this line of conversation.”

“Very true,” Kasey agrees. “Tell me everything that happened!”

Aiden and I both begin at the same time.

“We had to pay ten fucking dollars-”

“I accidentally exploded a cup of coffee-”

We both break off, exchange a look, and try again, only to have the same thing happen.

“Coburn had redwood bookshelves-”

“Jamie ended up calling security on me, but it was-”

“Oh, my god.” Kasey presses her fingers to her temples and lets out an extended, beleaguered sigh. “Try again, boys. One at a time. From the beginning.”