Light, misty rain softens everything on the drive home, making sharp edges fuzzy, turning the roads into glistening mirrors that double the glow of the streetlights. I'm tired, so I’m driving slowly, just to be safe. The relaxed ride is the opposite of our earlier mad dash to the hospital.

We all want to meet the baby, of course, but we figured that could wait until tomorrow. Once the adrenaline wore off, both Raj and Noah seemed ready to fall asleep on their feet, and I can’t even imagine how exhausted Melanie is right now. We decided to leave them be for the night.

Even Ripley, who only showed up towards the end of all this, is worn out from all the yelling and stress and excitement. He’s currently knocked out in the backseat of my car, his legs awkwardly crunched up in the tiny interior.

“Did Ripples get taller?” I murmur quietly. “I swear he could have fit back there more comfortably than this even like, at the start of summer.”

“He’s probably having a growth spurt.” Aiden matches his volume to mine. “I had one when I was eighteen. My last one, thankfully.”

“Yeah, thankfully!” I flip on my blinker, biting back a laugh, trying to avoid waking up Ripley. “You get one inch taller and you’re going to develop some serious orthopedic issues, bending down all the time to kiss me.”

“Think those are coming even at my current height,” Aiden answers, laughing softly. “S’okay, I’ve already decided that it’s worth it.”

My eyes meet his in the rearview, and we exchange an intimate smile before I turn back to the road. The misty rain gives everything a velvet softness, a kind of coziness. I almost don’t want to get home.

“Well, that’s nice for Ripples,” I say, turning onto his street. “But if he keeps this up, I’m going to be the shortest guy in the group. That’s annoying. Would it be weird if I tell him to stop?”

“To stop growing?” Aiden snickers quietly, shaking his head. “You can try, but I think he’ll probably laugh at you.”

I glance up at the rearview and see a tiny smile flash across Ripley’s face before his expression goes neutral again.

So I guess he’s not quite so passed out, after all, the sneak.

I bring the car to a stop outside of Ripley’s house. Aiden reaches back and gently prods his arm. Ripley sits up and pushes his curls out of his face, says goodnight.

We watch him go up the driveway, to make sure he gets inside okay. He trips a little going up the porch steps, almost drops his skateboard. He didn’t trip on the steps, exactly. It looks more like he tripped on his own feet.

“Yep, he’s definitely going through a growth spurt,” Aiden chuckles.

I laugh, then lean over to wave goodbye. Ripley smiles sheepishly, waves back, and disappears into his house.

“Let’s hope that he adjusts fast,” I say, pulling away from the curb. “Or between him and Alix, City Hall will be destroyed by this time next week.”

“Aw, that tiny little trip wasn’t so bad.” Aiden yawns deeply, sitting back in his seat. “You should have seen me, when I was going through the same thing. Especially in middle school. It was pure chaos.”

“Actually… I didn’t see you in middle school. Like, at all.” I glance at him in the rearview, realizing as I speak. “Did you go to private school?”

“No.” Aiden reaches over to trail his fingertips up the back of my neck. “I was homeschooled until high school. All Callahan kids have to be homeschooled for a bit. Can’t go to school before you have decent control over your powers, and you won’t accidentally - I don’t know. Explode a teacher’s coffee mug when you’re in a bad mood. And even the kids who aren’t chosen, they’ve got to be homeschooled until they're old enough to really understand that they can’t tell anyone about the family secret.”

I take a moment to think about that.

“Does-?” I begin, and stop abruptly.

I was about to say: does that mean one of us will be homeschooling our kids? Jesus Christ. Let me dial it back about thirty notches.

“Does, um.” I’m trying to think of something less intense to say, but I don’t find anything, so I seize on a semi-unrelated truth. “Sorry, I’m so tired.”

“It’s okay.” Aiden takes a strand of my hair, winds it between his fingers. “Were you gonna ask if it normally takes that long to develop enough control? The answer is no. My mom had it down by the time she was in middle school. But, you know. My aunt couldn’t show me how to contain my energy, so I had to figure it out on my own. Took me kind of a long time.”

I look over at Aiden, expecting his smile to have fallen away. Talking about his mom, and what happened because she wasn’t there - sometimes it makes him struggle with his anger. But when my eyes find him, he actually seems okay. Maybe it’s because he’s too tired to get worked up, but I don’t think so. His blue gaze is steady, clear, calm. Peaceful waters.

I turn back to the road, smiling to myself.

Ripley isn’t the only one growing in leaps and bounds.

~~~~

I expect Aiden to be asleep by the time I come out of the shower. Nothing about today was physically tiring, but we’ve both been hit with the kind of mental exhaustion that hangs on your body, weighs down your limbs, sends you stumbling to bed.

Aiden is in bed, but he’s sitting up, the new book of poetry I gave him propped against his knees.

He looks up when I come in, then moves over to make room for me. I snuggle up beneath the covers, fold an arm over his waist.

“How are you reading, right now?” I bury my face into the pillow, my eyes already closed. “I’m gonna fall asleep in two minutes. Also, Kasey isn't here. You don’t have to wear the glasses.”

“They’re helpful just for this, too.” He reaches down to twist his fingers into my wet hair. “I need to get a new lamp, or something.”

“Oh, now that the birthday’s over, you’ve suddenly got things you want and need, hmm? Unlike when I was asking for gift ideas?”

“Stop it.” Aiden huffs out a soft laugh. “I wouldn’t change a thing about the presents I got.”

I open one eye and smile up at him, then nod at the book. “Reading a good one?”

Aiden surprises me by reading out loud in his deep, rumbling voice.

Cussing doesn’t come from a lack of vocabulary -

I know all the other words.

None of them speak the same language

that my fucking heart does.

I stay silent for a moment, absorbing the words.

“Hm. I like that.”

Aiden sets the book on the night table, and puts the glasses down on top of it. “Me, too.”

For some reason, the piece of the poem makes me think of Noah. My mind goes back to my earlier realization. I haven’t had time to process it, or even really wrap my head around it, but it’s pulling at me.

“Okay.” Aiden’s fingers stop their gentle movements in my hair. “What’s going on?”

He’s still sitting up, leaning against the headboard, and I have my head against his side. He can’t even see my face from this angle. How did he know?

“What do you mean?” I ask, trying hard to sound like I really have no idea.

“Don’t.” Aiden gets a better grasp on my hair and uses it to gently tug my head back, so that I look up at him. “Come on. Out with it.”

“How the hell did you know?”

“You’re my Companion Plant, man. I can tell when you’ve got something on your mind.” He touches his thumb to my cheek, concern in his eyes. “Is something wrong?”

Vetiver always clings to the sheets, pillows, and blankets of Aiden’s bed, and to him, too. I take a long breath of it, trying to steady myself out, sound casual.

“No, nothing’s wrong. It’s - just - it was a pretty full day today, don’t you think?”

Aiden makes a skeptical face. “And that’s it?”

“I - yeah. No, yeah. That’s it.”

He huffs out an affectionate laugh. “I love watching you try to lie, dude. It’s so cute.”

“Shut up, man!” I press my face into his side. “Who says I’m lying?”

Aiden pushes me onto my back, then rolls on top of me. There’s nowhere for me to hide my face when he’s looking down at me like this.

“Hmm.” His eyes linger on the blush crawling over my cheeks. “Sure looks like you’re lying. Sounds like it, too. You’re keeping something from me, Keane.” Very lightly, he skims a hand down my body, and I shiver. “Bet I could make you tell me.”

My skin is still damp from the shower, making it easy for Aiden’s warm, nimble fingers to glide wherever they want to go. Our legs are tangled together, and a teasing expression comes over his face as my body starts to respond to his touch. I feel myself quickly losing grasp on my defenses.

“Babe,” I stammer, reaching up to take his face in my hands. “Please - don’t-”

I blink in surprise as Aiden immediately draws his hand away.

“Oh, no, you can keep doing that,” I clarify, and he smiles. “I just - meant-”

Aiden moves his fingers to grip the back of my thigh. With one swift movement, he yanks me further down on the bed, so that he can better fit himself between my legs. A smirk turns up his lips as a hoarse, gasping sound escapes from my mouth.

“Come on, little demon, you can tell me,” he purrs into my neck.

“No, it’s-” I struggle to scrape together the words I need, very distracted by all the everything. “It’s - not mine to tell - please don’t make me.”

Aiden pauses, then pulls back. He peers down into my face, his head tipped to the side.

“Okay… but - there’s nothing wrong with us, or…? Is it something I can help with?”

I’m dying to talk to Aiden about this, but - it really isn’t mine to share with anyone. Noah hates it when people talk about him while he’s not around. He definitely wouldn’t be happy to hear that Aiden and I had been discussing something as deeply personal as this. Especially when he himself clearly hasn’t figured it out yet.

“Nothing is wrong with us,” I tell Aiden, stroking my knuckles along his jaw, enjoying the rough tickle of his stubble. “Everything is perfect.”

Aiden blinks down at me, then breaks into a sweet, warm smile.

“Okay, fine, fine,” he groans, falling onto his side. I had my legs wrapped around him, and this movement pulls me onto my side, too. We tip our foreheads together, snuggling into the pillows. “But, if it’s something you need my help with…”

“I will let you know.” I kiss Aiden’s nose, and cuddle up closer to him. “I promise.”

~~~~

I expected to be out the second my head hit the pillow, but I lay curled around Aiden, wide awake. My chest to his back, my arm draped over his waist. I give him an extremely gentle massage as he sleeps, just to have something to do with my fingers. Every now and then he breathes out a soft, contented sound.

These small noises keep me anchored, hold me in place while I start to work through my earlier realization.

Should I talk to Noah about all this?

The thing is, for some weird reason, Noah and I are pretty good at working through this kind of stuff together. I don’t know why, but it just works. He’s shared things with me that I never expected him to. Opened up about his feelings, apologized for things he did in the past, asked for my help. It’s not easy for him, but he’s done it a number of times, now.

For him to share with me everything he already has, but then stop short of talking to me about this… He must be really fucking thrown.

This has got to be why he’s been going on long drives and walks, taking so much time alone to work through his thoughts. But he still hasn’t sorted it out, and I’m starting to seriously wonder what he thinks is going on.

Is he so confused by the situation that he can’t see what’s happening? Or does he have the answer, but buried so deep down that he can’t find it?

My instinct is to try and help.

I should talk to Noah, help him figure it out. Talking it through with me might make it easier for him to eventually talk about it with Melanie and Raj. And they need to talk about it. Noah is probably so torn up inside about all this, even if he doesn’t know what it means.

I remember him crying outside of the hospital. I pinned that down to him being generally overwhelmed, but maybe it was because he felt like Raj and Melanie were moving onto a new part of their lives, without him.

Until we got back upstairs, where Raj took Noah by the wrist and practically dragged him with them.

I’m so, so sorely tempted to talk to Noah about it. I hate to think of him struggling over this alone.

But, at the same time…

Is it my place to do that? Talk to Noah about this before Raj gets to, or before Melanie does? Throw him headfirst into this realization, when he’s been working so hard to get there on his own? That almost feels like taking something away from him. It’s sort of a personal journey, one I’d be sharply cutting short.

And, honestly, I’m not sure that he’ll believe me.

It’s going to kill me not to talk to him about this, but - goddamnit, I think that’s what I have to do. I need to wait, and make it clear that when he does want to talk, I’m here for him.

I roll over in bed, reach for my phone, type out a quick text to Noah - God, crazy week, huh?! If you need to decompress, we can do a games & ganj night soon, lmk 😊 - and hit send.

I plug my phone back in, then stretch out on my back. I know that Noah won’t respond tonight. It’s okay. I’m not even really asking him to make plans, just reminding him that I’m here. I’m sure that in typical Noah fashion, he’ll just show up whenever he feels like it.

I blink in surprise as my phone lights up, buzzing with a burst of incoming texts. I sit up, reach over to grab it, and open up the messages.

A smile spreads over my face as I read. I go to reply, but before I can, something pulls at me from my peripheral vision.

I look over at Aiden. He’s still asleep, but he doesn’t look nearly as relaxed as he did before. He’s starting to curl up, balling tighter and tighter.

He hasn’t made a sound yet, but I can tell that he’s descending into a nightmare.

I move quickly to him, give his arm a very gentle pinch. He stirs, and I start pressing soft kisses onto his shoulder.

He blinks awake, shudders, and rolls over to look at me, his blue eyes wide and panicked.

“It’s okay.” I wrap my arm around him, draw his body up against mine. “Just a dream.”

Aiden lets out a heavy breath, tucking his head beneath my chin.

“I’m sorry,” he murmurs. “Did I wake you up?”

“Don’t be sorry, and no, you didn’t.” I don’t want to tell him that I was up worrying about Noah, so I pull back, reaching for my phone. “Look at this!”

Noah ⚡ 1:04 AM: cool man I’ll let u know!

Noah ⚡ 1:04 AM: we picked out her name btw

Noah ⚡ 1:04 AM: Nikita

Noah ⚡ 1:04 AM: 😊

Noah ⚡ 1:05 AM: she is perfect lol

Noah ⚡ 1:05 AM: sorry, tired, dunno what i’m sayin, talk tmrw

“Wow,” Aiden says, when he’s done reading. “Sounds happy, doesn’t he?”

Noah is happy. I can tell. And he doesn’t even know why yet, only that he is. I desperately want to tell him, but I’m determined to be patient.

I will wait until Noah looks deep within, and finds a way to be honest with himself about what he finds there. When he does, if he needs help understanding, I’ll be closeby.

I imagine that it’s complicated, figuring out that you’ve got not one Companion Plant, but two.