Soft summer breeze stirs Aiden’s hair as he steps outside of Kent’s house. He stops on the front step, his heart lifting.

A battered blue car is parked alongside the curb. Jamie Keane is sitting on the hood, waiting for him.

It’s a sight that Aiden never gets tired of seeing.

Jamie was gazing up at the stars, but he turns his head when he hears the door close. He catches eyes with Aiden and breaks into a warm smile.

“Hi,” he calls.

Aiden sets off down the path, strides up to the car, and smiles down at the freckled face of his happiness.

Jamie and Aiden have been hanging out all the time, recently. They’ve dispensed with those days apart, where it felt like they were both too nervous to ask the other one to hang out again. Jamie has started just showing up when he feels like it, and when he doesn’t just show up, Aiden texts him, invites him.

Jamie always comes over when Aiden does that, so. They’ve been seeing a lot of each other. More than Aiden dared to hope for when he gave Jamie his number.

Still, Aiden is finding himself slow to adjust to seeing Jamie’s face every day.

The delicate curves and angles of it. The way his smile lights up his whole expression. The way his nose scrunches up when he laughs.

Most disarming of all: Jamie’s sweet, luminous, earth-colored eyes. Eyes that seem designed to smile, console, shelter, understand. Always looking at Aiden so brightly, with so much sincere interest.

Aiden is a weakling for those eyes. For each and every freckle. For the escaped strand of vivid red hair falling over one eyebrow.

Jamie’s elbows are resting on his knees, his hands loosely intertwined between them. Aiden wants to gather those hands into his and never let them go.

“Hi,” he says instead, trying not to sound nervous.

“I’m glad to see that you’re okay, Callahan.”

Aiden blinks at him, confused. “What?”

“I mean…” Jamie holds up his phone, quirking an eyebrow. “You didn’t text me back for like, two hours. I assumed that your phone exploded.”

Aiden rolls his eyes, but he’s smiling.

He’s starting to think that holding onto this dream - this one, shining hope - might not mean dooming himself to inevitable heartbreak. Because somehow, against all odds, he and Jamie have become friends. Close friends.

Aiden can’t remember the last day that went by without them talking. Jamie’s note always sounds bright and happy when they hang out together, stumbling over itself with excitement. He has a gift for making Aiden laugh, for making him feel comfortable and open.

A gift for listening, too. Jamie listens like every word Aiden speaks has deep, meaningful significance. Depths that even Aiden himself doesn’t know about.

That would make Aiden nervous, but whatever hidden things Jamie understands from Aiden’s words - he seems to like them. To grow warmer and closer to Aiden every day.

Aiden has never heard his own note sound so happy.

He spent years making himself numb to everything, anesthetizing himself - but Jamie is a deep source of feeling. Sometimes Aiden feels overwhelmed by it, in the best possible way. Overwhelmed by hope, love, happiness. Things he never even got a taste of, before.

After a life that's felt like brutal, nonstop war, Aiden thinks he might be seeing signs of an approaching golden age.

It’s part of why he’s so anxious tonight.

He’s always kind of nervous around Jamie, no matter how much time they spend together. Aiden secretly thinks of him as a firebug. Not just because of his flaming red hair, but because he kindles all these little fires in Aiden’s chest. Sometimes with just one word or gesture.

And sometimes he sets off huge ones, so powerful and all-consuming that Aiden feels like he himself is the fire.

“Are you okay?” Jamie had asked once, peering into Aiden’s eyes. “You look like you have a fever, or something.”

Aiden is starting to think that he'll never not be nervous around Jamie. But tonight, the nerves are something else. Aiden's heart is jumping wildly in his chest, banging against his ribs.

Jamie has been waiting patiently for an answer.

“I was - working on something important,” Aiden tells him. “C'mon, you know that nothing else could stop me from texting you for two entire hours. Are you gonna be able to recover from this? One day?”

Jamie laughs, then groans. “Stop it!”

He smacks Aiden’s bare forearm. Aiden feels the quick little touch resonate through his entire body.

“I wasn’t complaining!" Jamie protests. "I was just wondering what you were doing. Now I have my answer. Sort of.”

He tips his head to the side, looking up at Aiden. Aiden’s eyes briefly flit to watch the moonlight slide down his neck.

“What important thing were you working on?” Jamie asks.

Aiden has it closed in his fist, warming his palm in the coolness of the summer night. One of his fireflies.

But not just any firefly. This one is special.

Despite Aiden’s very limited skills, he was able to shape it into a tiny, shining flower. A rose, made entirely of golden light.

It has rounded petals, a short stem, and one leaf. It also has a lot of imperfections, but the petals flutter gently in the breeze, an unintended effect that Aiden is happy with.

It took three days and three nights of practice to get the light to move how Aiden wanted it to. He spent another full day slowly and painstakingly forming it into the right shape. The creation of this tiny piece of light exploded and destroyed literally every dish in his kitchen, and his mirror, too.

It's okay. It’s all for a good reason.

Tonight, Aiden wants to tell Jamie about his magic. About being a Guardian.

He wants Jamie to see that there are one or two beautiful things about it. Because the rest is going to be bad news.

Aiden has thought long and hard about how to do this, what to say. But it’s not easy.

Hey, Jamie. I have this burden that’s been weighing on me like an anchor my whole life. It’s almost sunk me on more than one occasion. I’ve seen it break people who were stronger than me. Sometimes my own life is on the line, because of it. And there’s no way out of it, no matter what. This will be part of me until I die. Please stick with me, anyways.

Aiden can’t figure out a way to make it sound good in any respect. It’s a lot of work for him to pull one clear sentence from all of his thoughts and feelings, even when there’s way less pressure to get it right.

This is part of what Aiden likes about poetry. It says so much with so few words. He wishes he could do that. He gets lost in the labyrinth of human communication. He has to navigate it while trying not to drown in the sea of noise. Sometimes it's all he can do to keep his head above water.

He’s hoping the little lightspun creation in his hand will do some talking for him.

Aiden takes a breath, tries to calm down.

There’s no part of this that doesn’t scare him. He knows that by opening himself up to love, he’s opening himself up to potential hurt, too. If his Guardianship causes him to lose Jamie, after how hard Aiden fought to get back to him… After the covenant itself gave him the treasure of Jamie’s music, made Aiden realize that he could love someone with unwavering faith and fire…

He doesn’t know what the fuck he’s going to do with himself.

The dusky colors of twilight have grown deeper. The sky behind Aiden's Companion Plant is a bolt of midnight-blue satin, stitched through with stars. It's beautiful, but Jamie's gaze doesn't wander to it as he waits for a response. He's watching Aiden curiously, moonlight pooling in his irresistible amber eyes.

Sometimes Aiden can see himself reflected in them. It makes him wonder what Jamie sees when he looks at him.

Jamie reaches out and pokes Aiden’s arm.

“Hey. You alright?” His eyes drop to Aiden’s fisted hand. “What are you holding?”

He offers out his palm, waiting for Aiden to drop something into it.

Aiden struggles to pull courage into his heart. The light flower radiates its gentle heat against his fingers.

“It’s, um… just...”

Aiden flounders, thinking about how matchlessly precious Jamie is to him. Thinking of what it would feel like to lose him, especially now that they’ve formed such a deep attachment to each other.

And there’s something else to worry about, too.

Leigh’s words suddenly ring in Aiden’s head, warning him about what will happen if he tells someone he loves what he is.

Don't look at me like that, Aiden. I'm telling you this so you won't get hurt. Magic is a force of corruption. It draws out the greed and selfishness in everyone, no matter the person.

Aiden imagines that happening to Jamie, the sweetest soul he’s ever met in his life.

Just like that, he panics.

He releases the current of energy in his hand. The light flower goes out and disappears, irretrievably lost. Aiden spreads his fingers, shows Jamie that he doesn’t have anything.

“Oh.” Jamie blinks, then makes a fist with his own hand. “What was up with this, then?”

Aiden scrambles for an answer, trying to get a hold of himself. He’s shaking a little.

“Nothing, I’m just - tense, I guess. Long day at work.”

He actually used a vacation day so that he could take his time perfecting the light flower. But Jamie doesn't need to know that.

“Aw. I’m sorry.” Jamie makes a sympathetic face. “Is that the important thing you were working on? Archival stuff?”

Aiden lowers his eyes. “It - yeah.”

He bites his lip, and Jamie’s gaze drifts to it, lingers there. “Frustrating project?”

“You have no idea,” Aiden grumbles, rubbing his temples. “I couldn’t even get it done. Hate myself, sometimes.”

Jamie’s eyes soften. He starts to lift a hand, then quickly drops it down again, starts fidgeting with the sleeve of his flannel.

Aiden catches a whiff of the bright scent that always clings to Jamie's fingers. It smells like a green springtime garden. It comes from working in the flower shop all day.

“Aiden,” Jamie says, looking earnestly up into his face, “I’m sure you’re doing much better than you think. Don’t be so hard on yourself.”

Aiden seriously doesn’t know how Jamie manages to pack so much gentleness into every intonation, into every word to leave his mouth.

He nods, biting the inside of his cheek, trying not to let the love show in his eyes. “Yeah, I - I’m trying.”

Jamie smiles, then moves over, pats the car next to himself. Aiden eyes the hood, looks up at Jamie again.

“You want me to sit with you? I think that might break the shocks on your car, man.”

Jamie laughs, sending a burst of nervous butterflies through Aiden’s chest.

“It’s sturdier than it looks, I promise.”

Aiden really doesn’t want to hurt Jamie’s car. He knows by now that Jamie loves it a lot. So he very carefully eases himself up onto the hood, pausing to make sure it can take his weight before he slides back to sit with Jamie.

Jamie’s eyes had followed every movement, and he kind of smiles to himself. Again, he must have read something in Aiden’s gestures and actions, something Aiden hasn’t noticed himself.

And again, it seems like whatever Jamie understood, he likes it.

He lays back against the windshield. Aiden hesitates, then lays back next to him.

“How was your day?” he asks, since Jamie hasn’t said anything about it yet. “Work was alright?”

“Ugh!” Jamie immediately tosses his hands into the air, makes a very dramatic, pained expression. “Dude, this customer we had - you won’t believe this shit. I have never in my life seen a guy get so worked up about a cactus. I’ve been waiting all day to tell you about it, honestly.”

Aiden smiles as Jamie launches into the story. He loves the way that Jamie talks, how he acts things out with his expressive, gesturing hands. How animated his voice gets. Sometimes Aiden worries that the low rumble of his own soft-spoken voice is boring to Jamie, when Jamie talks like this.

“This customer actually said to me that we didn’t make it clear enough that you shouldn't water a cactus twice a day, every day. He was so mad that we wouldn’t give him a refund, like it was somehow our fault that he drowned that poor little - little, um...”

Jamie trails off, having looked over at Aiden. He stares at him, suddenly silent.

At first, Aiden isn’t sure why, but then he realizes he’s been looking at Jamie without doing anything to control his expression. He has no idea what's going on with his face right now. But something, clearly.

He blinks, glances hastily away from Jamie, and stares up at the stars instead.

“Guy sounds like an idiot,” he says, hoping that his cheeks aren’t turning as red as it feels like they are. “D’you lay into him about it?”

Jamie seems to shake himself out of something, breaking his gaze away from Aiden’s face. He looks up at the sky, too.

“Um - yeah, I totally did.”

Aiden lets his eyes drop to Jamie again. “You were really nice about it and patiently explained how to take care of a cactus, didn’t you?”

Jamie winces. “No, I - no.”

Aiden laughs, shaking his head. “You are seriously bad at lying, Keane.”

Jamie makes a fuck off kind of face at him, but even that somehow manages to look sweet. He simply can’t put any real nastiness behind it.

Aiden’s heart swims with love. He wants to take Jamie’s hand so badly that he starts to reach for it. He has to pivot to cover it up, moving to ruffle Jamie's bright red hair instead.

Jamie’s attempt at a scowl collapses, and he laughs softly, turning his face away.

They both look up at the sky again. The summer breeze rolls gently over them.

Jamie goes on telling his story, and Aiden listens. To Jamie’s voice, of course, but also to his soul. The two sounds compete to be Aiden's favorite, but he can never seem to choose between them.

This is exactly why it’s so hard for him to talk to Jamie about his magic. Aiden loves him too much, and he desperately wants to keep him, to not fuck this up.

He wishes he’d had the strength to hand over the little gift of light he created for Jamie. It was the only beautiful thing he’s ever intentionally made with his magic, and he wants Jamie to see that dimension of being with a Guardian. To see that there are things about it that aren’t so bad.

At the very least, he wants Jamie’s first experience with magic to be something nice. Not something horrible, like seeing Aiden respond when a soul cries out for help. That would probably scare him away for good.

Jamie startles him with a gentle poke to his ribs.

“Are you still thinking about whatever you couldn’t get done today?”

Aiden doesn’t understand how Jamie just knows stuff like that. Or how he seems to know that he’s right, going solely based on Aiden’s expression.

“Hey,” Jamie says gently. “Go a little easier on yourself, man. Is it something you can try again later?”

Aiden looks into Jamie’s eyes, his heart filling up with determination.

“Yeah, I can." He nods, once. "I will.”

It sounds impossible, but then again - Aiden and Jamie are friends. Aiden would have counted that as practically impossible, until it happened.

I’ll find a way to show you the beauty in it, Aiden silently tells Jamie, listening to the sweet song of his soul. I know that it can be beautiful, because you make it into something beautiful for me.

I’ll find a way to make it into something beautiful for you, too.