Aiden and I stand in the shower together, both of us still panting, out of breath.

I have one hand planted on the wall, the other reaching back to hold the outside of Aiden’s thigh. Aiden has both arms locked around me, his forehead resting against the nape of my neck, so that his heightened, uneven breaths spill down my back. Our bodies are slick from a combination of sweat, the hot water misting us, and the steam billowing gently around us.

“Oh my god,” I finally manage, giving Aiden’s thigh a squeeze. “That was, um - that - that-”

I’m fumfering, and it makes Aiden breathe out a husky little laugh. His thumb is dragging in slow, tight circles on my stomach, gliding over my wet skin.

“I missed you,” he purrs softly, lifting his head to kiss the slope of my shoulder. “I really, really missed you.”

I let out a helpless laugh. "I missed you, too."

Aiden tightens his arms around me, then eases our interlocked bodies apart very slowly, giving my earlobe a playful, intimate little bite. I shiver, a burst of residual pleasure seizing up and then relaxing all of my muscles, unlocking a wave of delicious warmth that flows through me at a serene pace.

My mind is still a golden, shimmering fog of pure bliss. Even through that, I realize that I should have known that it would be like this, once we finally got each other's clothes off. The cumulative effect of days of our unreleased need for each other, days of being forcibly kept apart.

There was inevitably going to be a cosmic-scale explosion. Still, it was even more fiery and powerful than I thought it would be, filled with an intensity that’s still smoking in my heart, blazing in my veins.

It’s to the point that everything about Aiden - every texture, taste, gesture, touch, and word - is steeped with sensuality, affecting me like an aphrodisiac. I drop my head back against his shoulder, releasing his thigh to reach up and bury my fingers in his soaked hair.

We stand like that for a few minutes. Then he nuzzles his face into my neck, and eases back.

“Aiden,” I stammer, as he starts to release me from his arms, “Wait a sec, I’m like - I’m boneless right now, I can barely hold myself up-”

“Stop it,” he laughs.

“No, Aiden, I’m not joking! Seriously, if you let me go-”

Too late. He already did, and I wasn’t exaggerating. He was the only thing keeping me upright. My body is so weak with pleasure, transfused with steep amounts of love and dopamine, still not recovered, nowhere near recovered, despite how long we spent basking in it after - that I tumble back into Aiden, literally unable to stop myself.

“What-?” he sputters, but I’ve already knocked him against the wall of the shower, off of his footing. He catches me, but we both go slipping and falling to the floor of the shower. We land together in a gasping, messy heap, the water spilling down onto us.

“Jamie,” Aiden laughs, holding me around my waist.

“I told you!” My already burning cheeks turn an even deeper shade of crimson. "I'm sorry! Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” he says. “I’m - I’m fine.”

Actually, I landed half on Aiden's lap, and I can feel that he’s perfectly fine. Better than fine, apparently. Better and better with each passing second.

I twist to face him, letting out a disbelieving laugh. “Are you serious, right now?”

Now Aiden’s cheeks are turning a darker blush, too.

“I can’t control that! And you’re all over me, man, shivering when I touch you, now you’re sitting on me, what the fuck am I supposed to-?”

“We literally, like - minutes ago - you’re telling me that wasn’t enough?”

Aiden huffs out a rumbling, affectionate laugh, winding two fingers into my hair.

“Enough,” he repeats, like that’s a very funny thing to say. “Of you.”

I bite my lip, love swimming in my heart. I manage to get up on my knees, facing Aiden. I glide my hands along the sides of his body, all the way down to his hips, where I work my thumbs into those divots of muscle. Then I start to slip one hand further down, leaning in to kiss him with the same movement.

Aiden's breath is quickly picking up again, but he catches my fingers with his, stopping me.

“Hey.” He lifts my hand to his mouth, brushes a kiss onto my palm. “You’re injured, remember?”

I blink at him, realizing that I completely fucking forgot. I’ve been a nervous wreck for days on end, and to have all of that stored-up tension released at once - my body feels so good right now. It's hard to believe that I'm injured, even though it's true.

I look down at the bruises on my hands, make a pouty face, and let out a noise of frustration.

Aiden laughs softly, gathers me into his lap again.

“Don't worry,” he murmurs. “It’s okay. I don’t even need - trust me, I’m in the same shape as you. Why do you think we fell, instead of me just catching you? This is just, um. A reflex, I guess, to having you naked and on my lap."

I try to shake my head at him, but end up laughing. I press my nose against Aiden’s, letting the water tumble down over us. Aiden holds me close, breathing slowly and deeply. He massages his thumbs into my palms, careful to avoid the bruises.

It feels really nice. I relax into Aiden, letting out a cozy sigh.

Aiden exploded a few things, just like he thought he would. One of those things was a bottle his vetiver aftershave that was on the counter by the sink. The scent has been picked up and diffused by the steam, gently saturating the whole room. I take long breaths of it, and my already relaxed body melts even more into Aiden’s.

He leans forward, places a long, slow kiss on my throat. My heartbeat stutters, trips on itself.

Aiden has a genius for this. He imbues every kiss he places on me with so much emotion and feeling, such careful, lingering, devoted attention. It makes whichever spot his lips are touching feel like the nerve center of my entire body. To abandon myself completely to the feeling, all I have to do is close my eyes.

His lips are slightly parted, his breath warming my skin. He stays like that for a second, then presses his tongue to the same spot, then his teeth, giving me a soft bite. I tip my head back, leaning into him, a renewed blush gathering in my cheeks.

I lose myself in Aiden all over again. I’m distantly aware of moving so that I can sit on him how I want to, my knees on either side of him. I hear the way his breath hitches when I do that. I sink my hand into his hair and push his head back so that I can press open-mouthed kisses all over his throat, just like he was doing to me. His hands slide up my thighs, gripping me harder and harder the longer I spend nuzzling and kissing and licking his neck.

“Jamie.” Aiden’s deep voice has dropped even lower, rough around the edges, little gasps of air fitted in between the sounds of my name. “If you’re not up for more, then you gotta stop like, right now.”

I pull back and smile down at him, looking into his hazed-over eyes, his blown-out pupils.

“Guess I can’t get enough of you, either,” I murmur, and give him a sharp bite on his lower lip.

Aiden blinks his blue eyes at me, then moves so swiftly that I barely have time to breathe before he’s on his feet again, pressing me back against the wall of the shower. I ended up with my legs locked around him, my arms around his neck. My feet never even touched the floor on the way here.

“Bicep Boy,” I gasp, tossing my drenched hair out of my face.

Aiden places one hand on the wall beside my head, his other arm encircled around me, holding me against him.

“Is it gonna hurt your hands?” he asks softly, skating his lips over mine. “Holding on like this?”

I’ve got a pretty good grip on Aiden, but I barely even need it. He’s holding me so effortlessly that I have no worries about falling, even if I accidentally let him go.

“No,” I answer, my pulse beginning to race, and Aiden smiles against my mouth.

“Then hold on tight,” he purrs, his deep voice vibrating through my every nerve.

The steamy shower becomes something like a dream room to me. A place where no knock on the door would ever be heard, where there’s nothing but us.

Aiden ends up having to carry me back to the bed afterwards, but even he’s stumbling, barely able to convince his body to move. We collapse together onto the blankets, and I burst out laughing when I see the blissed-out expression on Aiden’s face, his dazed blue eyes. The foresty scent of the vetiver-tinted steam has come outside with us, clinging to our bodies, our wet hair. Seeping into the sheets as we sprawl out on them.

We lay there together, Aiden’s head tucked under my chin.

My body is motionless, but my heart is soaring.

~~~~

I blink awake from what turned out to be an extended, unintentional nap, stirring against the blankets. Aiden is still asleep, tousled chestnut hair spilling over his face. He looks like he’s getting seriously good rest. His mouth is slightly open, lips swollen from kisses. His breathing is deep and slow, no nightmare twitches moving his body or fluttering his eyelashes.

He’s knocked all the way out, and he must be having nice dreams. Dusk has fallen outside, painting the winter sky a deep, dusty shade of violet, but there’s a soft golden glow in Aiden’s room, falling onto us where we’re cozied up in his bed. We left the windows thrown wide open, and we fell asleep on top of the blankets, but it’s a pleasant, toasty temperature in here.

I smile at Aiden, happy to see him recharging. Admiring his peaceful, sleeping face the way a person admires a beautiful painting.

I raise myself up on an elbow, rubbing my eyes, wondering what woke me up. It takes me a second to figure it out. Aiden plugged his dead phone into the charger before we fell asleep, and the screen is currently lit up, like it just stopped buzzing.

I could leave it, but I just want to make sure that it's not somebody worrying about us.

Yawning deeply, I reach over, unplug the phone, and see that Aiden must have had exactly enough energy to send only one text before he passed out. I can tell, because he only has one response.

Auntie 5:22 PM: Oh sweetheart I’m so glad that you’re okay, and I love you too! I do want to hear about what happened to the tree, but for now, just get some rest. And why would you say that you have something exciting to tell me, but give me no hint about what it is?! You sound awfully happy about it, so I'm guessing it's something to do with you and Jamie?

I stare down at the text, then look over at Aiden, pressing my fingers over my smiling mouth. I guess Aunt Sarah will be among the first to get the news about us moving in together. I can’t believe that Aiden told her even this much.

It means that he finally believes this is happening. Believes it enough to tell someone.

I lean over and push a gentle kiss into his cheek. He sleeps right through it, just stretches out his legs a little, flexing his feet. I look down at him with my eyes full of love. I feel like I’ve just watched my Companion Plant sprout new leaves, new flowers. And I must be growing them, too.

I move to set Aiden’s phone back on the night table, then realize that the text from Aunt Sarah came in a while ago. It can’t be why the phone lit up.

There’s a notification I overlooked. A missed call from Noah, only three minutes ago. I set Aiden’s phone down and reach for mine. Noah called me, too, right before he called Aiden. He actually called me twice.

Suddenly concerned, I slip out of bed and find my boxers, pull back on the sweater I borrowed. I step out onto the porch as I dial Noah back. It's cold out here, but I'm hoping to avoid waking up Aiden.

The call connects right away.

"Jamie, fucking finally!"

“Hey,” I say, instantly relieved to hear Noah's voice. “Everything okay, man?”

“You’re at Aiden’s place, right? I see the rental parked outside.”

“You see it?” I ask, my eyebrows furrowing. “Are you here?”

“Mhm. Making a used car delivery. Tell me if any of this sounds familiar, alright? The car is small enough that a motivated group of kindergarteners could probably pick it up and run off with it. Blue paint job. Engine begging to be put out of its misery. Brand unidentifiable, probably because it went out of business like five hundred years ago, right after this car was first produced.”

“True,” Raj agrees, joining the conversation. “Bet you King Henry V was cruising around in one of these.”

Noah sounds caught by surprise. “Why the fuck do you know who the king was five hundred years ago, dude?”

“Shakespeare, brother. He wrote a play about King Henry V. You know - this story shall the good man teach his son, and Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by, from this day to the ending of the world.”

“Krispy Kreme?” Noah asks, confused. “We don’t have one in Ketterbridge, but I’m definitely down to get some donuts.”

“No, it's a line from the-” Raj stops, considering. “Well - that does sound good, actually. I could go in for a donut. Hang on, let me text Mel, see if she wants one. She likes the chocolate glaze with the sprinkles, right?”

I turn around, hearing the click of the sliding glass door. Aiden steps out onto the porch, sleepily dragging his hand over his eyes, wearing only his jeans. I can tell that he came out here looking for me, so I guess my absence from the bed woke him up.

“Let’s just get an assortment, Raj,” Noah is saying. “Between the three of us, we can easily kill a 12-box of donuts, possibly more. And I bet you Jamie will want some, so we might want to go right for the 24, just to be safe-”

“Um!” I cut in, pressing my fingers to my cheek. “I’m sorry - are you guys saying that you’ve got my car back?”

Aiden stops, suddenly wide awake, his eyes lighting up with hope. I’m sure that mine have done the same, but I won’t believe it until Noah actually tells me -

“That’s exactly what I’m saying,” Noah answers, and I can practically hear the grin in his voice. "Blue is back, as promised."

I slowly break into a huge smile, clinging tightly to my phone. Aiden sees my expression and lets out a long, heavy breath, his shoulders bowing with it. He looks just as relieved as I feel.

I reach out for him, swaying on my feet.

“Noah,” I stammer, as Aiden comes over to lock his arms around me. “Are you serious? Did you - did you really-?”

“Yes, dude!” Noah laughs. “Get your ass down here before King Henry V decides to come get his car back. Which reminds me - ask Aiden if he wants any donuts.”

This is the only thing that Aiden has heard from Noah’s end of the line so far, and he pulls back to blink down at me with perplexed blue eyes.

I let out a little laugh, half because of the look on Aiden’s face, half because I just can’t believe this. I hug Aiden tightly, press my face into his chest. He drops his head and buries a kiss into my hair.

“Noah.” My voice is all thin and fragile, but I can’t help it. “You - I just… thank you, man. Thank you.”

There’s a pause from Noah’s end of the call, but when he speaks again, I can hear him smiling.

“You’re welcome, okay? Now just - shut up about it. Get down here, already. Don’t you want to see your car?”

I do. I hang up without another word, then rush inside to find my jeans.