I’m drifting right below the surface of consciousness, just awake enough to feel that I’m being gathered into two strong, warm arms.

“Good morning,” a deep voice murmurs, and then there’s a soft, bright huffing sound.

“Mmm, good morning.”

Fingertips gently stroke my jaw. “You're - you’re still here.”

“Course I am,” I say drowsily, already slipping back into my dreams. “Where else would I be?”

When I wake up again sometime later, I lay there unmoving, keep my eyes closed.

I’m tempted to go right back to sleep. My muscles are pleasantly sore, my lips a little swollen, my body cozy beneath the blankets. Cold air is drifting in through the open window, all the more reason to burrow deeper into the bedding.

But I can’t fall back asleep, because - I don’t sense Aiden next to me. I should hear his breathing, be warm from his heat.

I roll over, smooth my palm across the mattress, feeling for him. My hand doesn’t find anything. He’s definitely not in the bed.

I open my eyes, blinking against the sunshine. Then I gasp, and sit bolt upright.

This is definitely not the perspective of my room that I usually wake up to. Then again, I don’t usually wake up with my bed floating several feet above the floor.

In fact, everything in my room is floating. Anything that isn’t nailed down is drifting lazily above where it should be. My houseplants are a floating garden, rotating peacefully in the morning sunlight.

“Oh my god, what-?” I grab hold of the bed with both hands. “Aiden?”

As soon as I call for him, there are answering footsteps, and he slips through the door of my bedroom.

Our eyes meet. Aiden breaks into a wide, radiant grin. His cheeks round out, the corners of his eyes crinkle, and my heart stumbles over itself.

“Hi!” he says, bounding over to the bed. He puts both hands on the mattress, forces the entire thing back to the floor, then hops up on it to kiss me. “Hi,” he says again, and laughs against my mouth.

“Hi.” I’m laughing, too, though I’m not sure why. “Um, what exactly-?”

“Oh, right.” Aiden sits back, glances around at my room. “Yeah, sorry about that, I tried to make it stop.” He shrugs, a little sheepish. “Guess I can’t. It’ll stop on its own when I leave, though.”

“When you leave?” I pull back to look at him, and realize that he’s already fully dressed. Wearing athletic clothes, for some reason. “Where-?”

“I’m going for a run.”

I stare at him, taken aback. “Right now?”

“Yeah, right now.” A devious spark flares in Aiden’s blue eyes. “I’m gonna run on the river. I got some very restful sleep, so I’m charged back up.” He gestures with an incline of his chin to the floating contents of my room. “As you can see. But that’s a solvable problem.”

He kisses my mouth, then springs back to his feet. Stretches his arms, rolls out his neck.

It hits me all at once why he’s rushing out of here to go burn off his magical energy.

“Oh, my god.” My cheeks instantly start to heat up. “Are you serious?”

“I’m very serious.” Aiden kicks out his long legs, then drops to stretch in a way that briefly makes his clothes hug his sculpted body. “You stay where you are, Keane. I’m coming right back.”

“Aiden,” I laugh, my cheeks burning even hotter, “You’re really about to go-?”

“Mhm, yes.” He puts one knee up on the bed, bends over me, takes my face in his hands. “And when I get back…” He guides my mouth up to his for a long, thorough kiss, and when he speaks again, his voice is a low purr. “We’ve got all morning. Your shift doesn’t start until two, right?”

He gets up again before I can answer. Twists his arms above his head for another stretch, revealing the briefest flash of those divots of muscle at his hips. I watch him, biting back a huge smile.

“Just make sure that nobody sees you, okay? Is it still snowing?”

“I know, I will. And yeah, it’s still snowing. Good news for us. Means the only evidence that it rained here last night was a row of pretty intense icicles over the door of your building. But it’s all good, I already went downstairs and melted them off.”

“You - really?”

“You can go down and check my work, if you want. Or - no, actually, you can’t. Stay exactly where you are.” Aiden kisses me one more time, then ruffles my hair. “I won’t be too long, I promise. Can you just wait right here? Please?”

“Yeah, okay.” I gather my knees to myself beneath the blankets, smiling up at him. “Be careful. I love you.”

Aiden lets out a short, sharp breath, and all of the floating things in my room lift a little higher. A few of the plants nearly bump into the ceiling.

Aiden tears his gaze away from me, his cheeks turning pink.

“Oops, okay - yeah, I need to - I’ll be right back!” He turns and races for the door, disappears through it in a flash. A beat of silence passes, and then he reappears in the doorway. “I love you, too!”

I open my mouth to answer, but he’s already gone again. The click of the front door closing comes only seconds later.

I laugh softly to myself, then climb to the end of the bed and look out of the window. I watch as Aiden takes an agile leap over the frozen front step of my building. He turns and sets off, the wind rushing through his chestnut hair, the snow fluttering down around him, his powerful muscles in graceful movement.

He’s going fast. I blink, and he’s already rounded a corner.

I turn to look at my room, and find everything back on its respective surface.

The switch has been flipped on the gravity, but I could swear that I’m still floating.

~~~~

“You’re both in a remarkably good mood,” Noah observes, his grey eyes flitting between myself and Aiden. “What were you doing all day?”

I look up at the stars overhead, mostly so that Noah won’t see the blush rising in my cheeks. At least I can blame it on the cold, if he asks, but - lying isn’t like, my best skill.

Raj stares at me, brown eyes narrowed. “Good shift at the shop, Jamie?”

It was not my most productive shift, if I’m being honest. I left Destinee to handle the customers, kept to the stockroom. I needed some peace and quiet to relive every perfect thing that happened in my sunlit bed this morning. And, of course, everything that happened last night. I was so exhausted by the time we fell asleep that I was worried I might forget the finer details, but nothing is lost to me. Nothing.

It’s all still swimming around in my mind. Sweet, sexy memories that send a pleasant shiver through me.

“Hello? Jamie?” Noah waves at me, then snaps his fingers. I blink at him, startled, and hastily drop the smile on my face. “What’s going on with you?”

Raj is leaning back against his car, and Noah is perched on the hood, his elbows on his knees. Aiden and I are standing right in front of them, which leaves me nowhere to hide.

“Nothing’s going on!” I say quickly, stuffing my hands in my pockets. “We were - just-”

I glance at Aiden, hoping for some help. He’s looking at me just like Raj and Noah are, as if he’s waiting for an explanation. There’s a little smirk playing around his lips.

“Useless!” I hiss at him, to a huffing laugh.

Noah’s eyebrows furrow. “What-?”

“Are we actually gonna go inside the house, at some point?” I interrupt, trying to redirect the conversation. “Remind me again why we’re standing out in the driveway?”

“Because,” Raj says, straightening up, “Can’t start the hang sesh without Ripples, and he’s gonna be here soon. Hopefully within the next five minutes. It’s cold as fuck out here. Anyone want a Scorpion chip? They won’t warm you up, but they will make your face burn.”

“I told you, dude, you don’t have to say Scorpion chip.” Noah points to the bag that Raj is holding. “They’re just called scorpions. It says so on the back.”

“Okay.” Raj rereads the package, one eyebrow quirked. “Who wants me to throw a scorpion into their mouth?”

“When you put it like that, Raj, how can we say no?” I laugh, then duck as Raj immediately obliges and chucks one at me. It sails over my head without making contact, thank god. “Where did that land? Someone go get it. It’s gonna poison all the plants beneath the snow.”

“Raj, over here,” Noah calls, and Raj turns. “Send me one.”

“Ten bucks says you won’t catch it, Noosh,” Aiden says, and Noah points at him.

“Bet! Raj, my mans. You’ve got this. Make it a good throw.”

Raj aims, then tosses a scorpion at Noah. It’s a bad throw, way too far off for Noah to catch it with his mouth - but Noah puts up a valiant effort. He flings himself halfway across the car, slides on the icy hood, and tumbles off of it, disappearing completely into the snowdrift on the other side. All we can see of him when he lands is one leg flung up in the air, snow sifting down onto him from his own boot.

“Oh, my god,” I groan-laugh. “Are you happy now, Aiden?”

“Very,” he chuckles, watching as Noah kicks himself upright, half-covered in snow. “Especially because I’m not down ten doll-”

Noah springs to his feet, his tattooed fists punched into the air in victory, the scorpion chip between his teeth.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Aiden sputters, as Raj and I burst out laughing. “How is that not dust by now?”

“They’re hard as rocks, weirdly enough,” Raj says, turning one over in his fingers. “Seriously, they’ll chip your teeth.”

“Those things are a health hazard in a billion different ways,” Aiden groans.

He’s trying to act like he’s sour about losing, and doing a bad job. No matter how hard he tries, he can’t stop smiling.

I get it. I can’t, either.

Aiden gently drags his knuckles along my back, then wraps one burly arm around my shoulders. Ever since we left my apartment, he’s perpetually drawing me in closer, stealing quick touches, gathering me into his arms.

Even when Aiden isn’t reaching for me, I keep finding myself pulled into his orbit. Sticking close to him without meaning to, without thinking about it. The magnetism between us is particularly powerful right now, impossible to resist.

It’s all good, though. Raj and Noah are so wound up in each other that they’ve barely noticed.

Noah hasn’t said too much about how things are going with their new relationship, but that doesn’t matter. The effect it’s having on both him and Raj is obvious, and their behavior tells me everything I need to know.

I’m so glad that Noah stopped trying to constrict himself into a mold he doesn’t fit. This, being with both Raj and Mel, it does fit him. It expands him. I can see it from a mile away.

Up until now, I’ve only noticed brief flashes of that magnesium glow in his grey eyes. I had no idea that it could be sustained for so long. He’s had it since before we arrived, and it shows no signs of dissipating. A subtle flare of brightness moves through it every time he and Raj catch eyes with each other.

Now that Noah has figured out that there’s nothing incomplete about his feelings for Raj, nothing wrong with them except for a now-resolved lack of clarity... I get the sense that he’s starting to find his way through this unexplored dimension of himself.

Raj and Noah’s relationship may not be physical in the same way that mine and Aiden’s is, but now that everything is out in the open, small expressions of their intimacy are showing up all over the place. They’re finding plenty of other ways to channel it.

When Aiden and I got here tonight, Noah was leaning back against the closed garage door, and Raj was right next to him, leaning his shoulder against it. He was turned towards Noah, saying something to him, and - at the same time, playfully toying with the zipper on his bomber jacket.

Noah was smiling, listening to him, a faint blush beneath the tattoos on his cheeks.

The Noah I knew at the start of summer would never have been comfortable with that. With anything close to that.

But people change. Sometimes our boundaries change with us. All that matters is to respect them as they exist in the present moment, and Raj is clearly aware of that. He never crosses Noah’s boundaries, which is probably why Noah trusts him so much. Enough for that moment against the garage door to happen.

Noah starts shaking the snow off of himself, grinning from his scorpion chip victory. Raj clicks his tongue, taking in the sight.

“Dude, you are covered with snow. Are you trying to get sick and make me all worried? And if so, why?” He makes a pouty, wounded face. “You hate me, don’t you?”

Noah leans back against the car again. He crosses his arms over his chest, smiling at Raj, magnesium-eyed.

“Pas du tout,” he sighs, beneath his breath.

“Why do you keep saying sneaky little things to me in French, recently?” Raj narrows his eyes, suspicious. “I’m gonna start looking up the translation, when you do that.”

“Cool, good luck with being able to spell any of it,” Noah laughs.

“Goddamnit, that’s exactly why I can’t get a handle on this language,” Raj grumbles. He moves to join Noah, leans against the car next to him. “I like it when things match with the way they sound.”

“I do, too,” Aiden murmurs softly, smiling down at me.

I roll my eyes at him, then turn back to Noah and Raj before my cheeks can get too red. “So, um - did you guys tell Ripples, yet? About the new situation?”

They both glance at me, growing serious.

“Nah, not yet,” Noah says, picking at his sleeve.

“We don't know what to say,” Raj adds, running a hand through his dark curls. “Just - what, be like - hey, Ripples, got some news for you. Noah is now my boyfriend and Mel’s boyfriend. We decided it should be all three of us together. Surprise.”

“What?” someone gasps, from directly behind me.

We all whip around to find Ripley standing there, his mouth hanging open, his skateboard dangling loosely from his fingers.

“Jesus!” Noah sputters. “You’re so damn light-footed, man, where did you just come from?”

“You three are all together?” Ripley puts his paint-stained fingers to his mouth, his eyes wide. “I’m busy for a few days, and I miss all that?”

I nudge Ripley’s shoulder. “Yeah, where have you been, dude?”

“I was-” Ripley casts me a swift, meaningful glance. “Planning an art project.”

“What kind of project?” Raj asks.

“Don’t change the subject!” Ripley turns back to him, an indignant look on his face. “How did no one tell me? You could have hit up the group chat!”

“We’ve been - kinda nervous to talk to anyone about it.” Raj kneads his palm, his brown eyes anxious. “Just - don’t know how people will…”

He fades off, shifting uncomfortably.

“Oh.” Ripley’s expression softens. “Okay, I - I get that.”

“Sorry, bro,” Noah says, wincing. “Are you mad?”

“I mean - nah, not really.” Ripley breaks into a grin. “I’m so fucking happy for you three!”

Raj and Noah blink in surprise. Then they both match his smile, and straighten up from the car. Noah slaps Ripley’s shoulder, and Raj affectionately messes up his green curls. We all head inside, Aiden leading the way, Ripley already insisting on details.

I’m the last one in, so I’m the only one who notices when Raj covertly reaches for Noah’s hand. Noah takes it, gives it a squeeze. They exchange a fleeting, relieved glance, then let their fingers break apart.

Biting back my smile, I follow after them.

I close the door behind myself, sealing us all into the warmth of their house.