Stretched out on my bed, basking in Aiden’s light, I’m in a rare place of utmost peace.

I’m experiencing the kind of complete non-worry I haven’t felt since I was a kid. All the little knots I get myself tangled up in have been undone, released. There seems to be more space in my lungs for air.

I’m fully and endlessly relaxed, cloud-borne.

I can’t take my eyes off of Aiden. The fireflies are drifting lazily around the room, and they form the wall against which I see him. His eyes are shining, serene, elated, and he’s just looking back at me. Our hands are laced together. His thumb is coasting softly against the edge of my palm, back and forth, at a slow pace.

I have no idea how long we’ve been laying like this.

The intense, charged hum that was in my veins before has been replaced with a calm, resonant hum, almost like a human voice. It makes me feel like I’m floating very slightly above the bed, like I’m one of the fireflies.

It seems so real that I actually look to see if Aiden is doing it, but he’s not. It’s coming from within me, and I imagine that I can feel it spreading out around me in every direction.

The light stroking of Aiden’s thumb keeps me in my body, so I can relax completely into this sublime sense of connection without losing myself. I’m completely present, here with Aiden, closely bound to him, just like I want to be… but without falling from the sky.

This is so far beyond what I’ve experienced before. I would feel stupid about having this powerful of a response to what just happened, but - I think that Aiden is in the same place. He’s blinking slowly, gazing into my eyes like he can see for miles within them.

“You’re still singing,” he breathes.

I can’t hear what Aiden hears, but somehow I already knew that this would be the case.

“What about you?” I murmur. “Are you singing?”

Aiden bites his lip, but he’s smiling. He nods, just once. “Mhm.”

I smile back at him, and he makes a soft, airy sound. He breaks his gaze from mine, presses his free hand over his eyes.

“Dreaming,” he mumbles. “I know that I’m dreaming. Gonna wake up any damn second.”

I curl up around Aiden, let out a cozy sigh. The rain storms against the windows.

“This is a very nice dream, if that’s what’s happening. Love it in here. Can we stay forever?”

Aiden lets out a short, pained laugh. “That’s exactly something you would say if I was dreaming, so. Now I know for sure.”

I trace my fingers in small circles on Aiden’s chest, smiling to myself, my toes curling. I prop myself up on an elbow, then tug his hand away from his eyes.

“Not the case this time, Callahan,” I tell him firmly, meeting his gaze.

Aiden looks at me for a moment. Then he releases my hand and closes his arms around me. I was already comfy enough, but now I melt completely into his body heat. Tuck my head beneath his chin, rest easily on top of him.

He traces his fingertips lightly up and down my back, then sinks them into my hair. Presses a kiss onto the top of my head.

I’m struck with a sudden memory of the conversation that Melanie and I had when Aiden first came back to town. We were talking about the way he was in high school, and she said -

I don’t know why I put up with it for so long. Maybe just cause he’s so cute, or cause the sex was so good.

“I get it, Melanie,” I say, beneath my breath.

“Hmm?” Aiden tugs playfully on a strand of my hair. “What’d you say?”

I shake my head, biting back a laugh.

“Nothing.” Definitely wasn’t thinking about how I could see myself putting up with all kinds of bullshit to get more of this. “Just - glad that you’re not a huge jerk anymore.”

Aiden huffs out an indignant laugh, then tightens his arms around me until I make a sound of protest.

“Ouch! Oh, you bastard - okay, I take it back, you are still a huge jerk, and I hate you!”

Aiden curls his knuckles beneath my chin, guides my face up to his, and nuzzles the tip of his nose into mine.

“You sure about that? Cause I’m really starting to think you might actually like me, Keane. Just a little bit. Can’t help but notice.”

I try to make a face at him, but end up laughing. I groan deeply, then drop my forehead back onto his chest. Aiden laughs, too. A familiar low rumble. The gentle vibration of it feels heavenly when I’m stretched out on top of him like this.

Something about our positioning feels intuitive, natural, exactly right. This is where I’m supposed to be. Close enough to Aiden that I can both feel and hear his laughter. Not just right now, but always.

“This is gonna be a tough one to wake up from,” Aiden murmurs, more to himself than to me.

At this point, I would think that he was joking, but - he sounds genuinely sad at the prospect. I hold still for a second, disbelieving, then prop myself up again, cup my hand around his face.

“Aiden,” I laugh, “This is not a dream.”

He's avoiding my eyes. “That’s what you always say.”

“It’s.” I kiss his forehead, then his nose. “Not.” I press my body teasingly into his, and the soft-burning fire in his eyes flickers. “A dream.”

I kiss his mouth, then give his bottom lip a sharp bite. Aiden hisses softly, his pupils dilating again - then stops, blinking at me.

His blue eyes fill up with planetary light.

He sits up, sitting me up with the same movement. Gathers me into his lap, puts our foreheads together. I leave my palm on the broad span of his chest, let his heart beat against my fingers.

We sit like that, breathing together again, for I don’t know how long. My entire notion of the outside world has broken down completely. The steady rush of the rain against the windows is a natural curtain, sealing us off from everything else. This place is only for us, and apparently, it’s timeless.

“Been waiting for this for so long,” Aiden says, unprompted. “So long.”

“Was it worth the wait?” I ask, dragging the tip of my nose down the bridge of his.

Aiden draws back, stares at me with wide eyes, and then laughs like that’s the dumbest fucking question anyone has ever asked.

I smile at him, my heart lifting. Then I slip out of his lap, climb out of the bed.

Aiden catches my hand before I can so much as turn away. He looks almost a little alarmed, like he thinks I was about to go somewhere without him.

I definitely wasn’t, though. Of course I wasn’t. I can't believe he was even worried about that.

“C’mon,” I say, tugging on his fingers.

Aiden doesn’t let go of me as we cross to the bathroom. When I start to release his hand so I can turn on the shower, he tightens his grip around it.

I turn to look at him, surprised, and try to pull my hand free. “Babe, I need to-”

He holds on tighter, and I begin to laugh a little.

“Aiden! I’m not going to disappear if you let me go! You do realize that, right?”

I meant this as a joke, but Aiden looks at me with very serious blue eyes, like that’s exactly what he thinks will happen.

I manage to twist the shower on with my left hand, then pull Aiden inside, keeping his fingers held in mine.

I didn’t bother with the lights, because the fireflies have drifted into the room with us. Their golden glow diffuses through the shower curtain, rippling and flickering. I drop Aiden’s hand just long enough to loop my arms around his neck, and he takes me by the waist. Runs his thumbs up and down over my wet skin, massaging me with a gentleness that should be beyond the capacity of a man built the way he is.

I smooth my thumbs up and down the nape of his neck, sinking in much more pressure than he’s using with me. Steam gathers around us, hot water rolling down our shoulders. Aiden leans his forehead against mine again.

“Everyone else is so quiet, right now,” he murmurs. “It’s - almost like it’s only us.”

I stand on my toes to kiss the delicate lines at the corners of his eyes. He smiles, and I feel them crinkle up against my lips.

I’m on a very slow, peaceful descent back to earth. I have to rearrange my senses, remember that there’s a world beyond these walls. It’s hard to do. I'm with Aiden in a cocoon of perfect comfort and safety. Why think about anything else?

But eventually, I get there. My feet finally touch the ground, and I take a minute to reflect on everything that just went down.

I can’t help myself: I start to laugh. Aiden raises a questioning eyebrow.

“Sorry,” I manage, “It’s just - I thought that the literal walking on water would be the highpoint of my night. Felt like a safe assumption, at the time. Kind of wild to realize that I was - just - so very wrong about that.”

Aiden is standing close enough that I feel the sweet huff of his laughter against my mouth.

“Right there with you, man,” he says, and now we’re both laughing.

“Dude, why did you wait so long to tell me that you’re bi?" I smack his chest with the back of my hand. "Like, not until I’d already kissed you? We could have been doing this so much sooner!”

“I wanted to tell you,” Aiden groans. “Believe me, I wanted to, but every time I tried, I just-” He blows out a long, frustrated breath. “I don’t think you know how nervous you make me, man. Since - before we were even friends.”

I smile up at him, then pull him a little closer to me.

“Well, you know what? It doesn’t matter, actually. I wouldn’t change a thing about how this happened. Not one thing.”

Aiden rests his cheek against the top of my head, and I feel it round out with his smile. “I wouldn’t, either.”

“You never really gave me that impression, by the way,” I tell him, after a moment. “That you were nervous around me. You hid it really well.”

There’s a silence, and then Aiden’s rumbling laugh.

“I did? Are you fucking serious? Jesus Christ. I always thought it was the opposite.”

“Nope, definitely not the case. Especially before we were friends, I mean, my god. Don’t you remember how mean you were when I picked you up from the airport? The whole drive back to town, it was like you didn’t give a damn about the conversation we were having, and then you just - stopped talking.”

Aiden tips his head back, lets out an agonized groan. “I’m so sorry, honestly.”

“Oh, it’s fine.” I tap his nose with my fingertip. “It was just an example.”

“You have no idea how fucking mad at myself I was about that,” Aiden growls, sounding pissed about it all over again. “Seriously, after you dropped me off, I just went to my room and crawled my sorry ass into bed. Laying there wishing that I was more flexible, so that I could literally kick myself in the face.”

I draw back to look up at Aiden, then burst into startled laughter. He breaks into a smile, bends to push a kiss onto my forehead.

We stay in the shower together for some time. Couldn't say exactly how much. The hands have been pulled off of my internal clock.

We both start laughing again when we discover that a wet autumn leaf has been stuck to one of my calves this whole time. Evidence of our earlier fall into the river. Aiden pulls it off for me, playfully nipping the place where it was before he straightens up.

The steam gathers into slow-moving clouds around us.

When we get back into my rumpled bed, I climb over Aiden again. Tease his mouth open for long, slow, lazy kisses. We’re both feeling languorous and unwound, quick to start laughing. Aiden pauses in the middle of making out with me to burrow his face into my neck, tickling me with his stubble.

We’re both too blissed-out to do much more than this, but it doesn’t matter at all. I could do only this, for days.

We take breaks to speak soft words to each other, then go back to speaking with our bodies. Aiden places lingering kisses on my chest, my hip bones, the insides of my wrists, the dimples on either side of my spine. He keeps twisting his fingers into my hair, over and over again. I keep putting my face into his neck, breathing in the subtle flavor of him, the last traces of his vetiver aftershave.

Aiden periodically breaks off what he’s saying without warning. Goes quiet midsentence, looking at me. But it’s not because anything’s wrong. I can tell by the type of silence he lapses into. He’s doing just fine.

There’s rain, and more rain.

Eventually we settle down under the blankets, our bodies wrapped closely together, Aiden’s heat against my cheek.

I put my hand on his chest, and the connection shimmers open, completely unintentionally.

Aiden’s happiness floods into me, and I gasp at the sparkling heights of it. Aiden sucks in a sharp breath as mine pours into him.

We lay there looking at each other, stunned, rendered utterly speechless and motionless.

It takes me a long moment to realize that peach-colored sunlight is falling over Aiden’s chestnut hair, catching on the curve of his eyelashes. Pooling in his blue eyes. When did that get there?

Blinking, I look over at the window. Dawn broke, and neither of us noticed. The rain is still crashing against the glass, but now it’s glittering bursts of rosy, light-filled droplets.

We have to sleep, I tell Aiden, sounding exhausted even with my inside voice.

Aiden shakes his head, looks at me with pleading blue eyes. Not yet. Just a little longer.

Come on, dummy, you know that we have to. You’re gonna pass out soon, regardless. And I am, too. Can't fight it.

Aiden hesitates before he speaks again. He folds his hand over mine, where it’s still resting on his chest.

Then - promise me that this isn’t a dream. Promise that you’ll be there when I wake up. I can’t go to sleep if you’re not going to be there when I wake up.

I promise, I answer, tracing my thumb over his knuckles. And then, without stopping to think about what I’m saying - I’ll always be there.

Aiden’s happiness, already a radiant glow within me, flares brilliantly.

He doesn’t say anything for a long time, and the connection… something happens to it. I sense a slowing down of Aiden’s energy. It begins to feel like waves dissolving on a shoreline. A tranquil, constant, repetitive rush. I almost feel like I’m rocking in a hammock. My breaths grow longer and slower of their own accord, start to deepen.

I look at Aiden, and realize that he’s fallen asleep with our connection open.

This has never happened before. I didn’t know that it was possible.

I curl up against him and fall into the easiest, softest slumber I’ve ever known.

I surface only once. I’d tried to roll over, but something stopped me. Aiden’s hand, locked around mine. He’s sleeping just as deeply as I was a second ago, but still, he’s holding on, and holding on tight. The cool metal of my ring is pressed against the pad of his thumb, leaving an impression on his skin.

My mind goes back to what Aiden said to me last night.

It’s really you. Finally, it’s you.

Softspoken words, but they’re still ringing in my ears.

“It’s you,” I whisper, at Aiden's sleeping face. “It’s no one but you.”

The only answer is an unknowing, sleepy little sigh. It gently rises his broad shoulders, and his breath stirs the unruly strand of chestnut hair that’s fallen over his forehead.

I cuddle back up against Aiden, leave my hand in his, and drift off again.

The rain in my ears. His warmth on my palm. An inexhaustible fountain of love in my heart.