“You know,” I stammer, “When you said we were going to go make out on the sand, I thought-”

I cut myself off with a sharp breath, my hands twisting in Aiden’s hair.

Aiden doesn’t answer. He’s busy dragging the flat of his tongue up my throat, so achingly slowly that I can barely handle it. He’s between my legs, pushing me down into the sand with his body, and I’m panting, which is making it hard for me to talk.

“I thought - you just said that - so Noah - wouldn’t come with us,” I finish, tripping over my words.

“That is why I said it,” Aiden rumbles, his stubble tickling my skin. “But it got me thinking.”

I let out a laugh, and Aiden lifts his head to smile down at me, his pupils nearly overtaking the blue of his eyes.

We walked down the length of the bay until we hit the smooth, black rocks that form its edge. We wandered over them, looking into the tidepools, and found this small, secret, sandy place. Hidden, blocked on either side by the slick black boulders. The ocean is washing right up on our feet. The cold seawater and the heat of Aiden’s body form a mixture of sensations that keeps giving me goosebumps.

The constant rush of the waves covers the sound of our mingled, heightened breathing, the soft noises Aiden has been drawing from me since he pushed me down on my back.

“You want me to stop?” he asks, starting to pull away.

I catch his head with both hands, guide his face back down to my neck. He breathes out a huff of laughter against it, and my toes curl in the sand. I open my eyes, my fingers still tangled in his hair, and - realize that I’m looking up at stars.

“What-?” I begin, then break off, having figured out the answer to my question.

We left Noah, Raj, and Mel when the sun was setting. We’ve been bathed in soft, radiant light ever since, and I assumed that the sun was providing it.

But the sun must have gone down long ago. The beautiful golden light surrounding us is coming from the sun wrapped in my arms, who must be in a very good mood.

“You’re happy, huh?” I ask, stroking my fingers down his spine.

He sits back on the sand, and I sit up, too, looking at him. His chestnut hair has lightened softly over the two days we spent in the waves, the sunshine. His blue eyes are catching the golden light of his own making, reflecting it back at me.

“I’m having a good time.” The deep, slow rumble of Aiden’s voice cuts over the softly breaking waves. “Been having a great time ever since we found this spot. Are you not, man?”

I make a face at Aiden to indicate just how stupid that question is, and he laughs.

I move to sit between his bent knees. He makes room for me to lean against his chest, then folds his arms around me.

I’m sure he means it. That the time we’ve spent together in this hidden place would be enough to set him to glowing. But I think it might be more than that.

I think he’s just happy for Noah.

I am, too. I’m itching to hear what happened, although Aiden definitely helped me keep my mind off of it.

“Do you think we gave them enough time?” I ask.

Aiden slips his phone out of his pocket to check, then blinks in surprise.

“Oh. Um - yeah, we gave them a lot of time. Wow. You’re real distracting, Linden.”

“Me?” I sputter, indignant. “I’m distracting? You’re the one who brought me all the way out here! I wanted to hide nearby and snipe pictures!”

“I know. That's part of why I took you this far away. Knew I wouldn't be able to stop you, otherwise.”

“What? Stop me, why?”

“Because.” Aiden taps my nose with a fingertip. “Noah is not the type who’d be happy to hear that he was being spied on during an incredibly vulnerable moment.”

“But-”

I stop, considering, biting back the argument I had lined up.

Aiden drops his head to kiss my shoulder. “But what?”

“Ugh. Nothing.” I frown deeply at him. “Just - you’re right, and I was wrong. That’s annoying.”

Aiden huffs out an indignant laugh.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, Keane. This must be awful for you.” He takes in the expression on my face, smiling at me. “You seem devastated.”

I’m trying to look pissed off, but it’s not working at all. I just can’t help but love that Aiden is looking out for Noah, like the Guardian that he is.

Speaking of Noah - “Let’s go back, right?”

Aiden nods, gets to his feet, and offers me a hand up.

We walk together along the shoreline, wrapped in a soft halo of Heliomancer light. It’s starting to get cold, but rather than putting off heat, Aiden simply keeps an arm around my shoulders. I spread my hand on his back, feeling cozy, peaceful. His embrace is safe anchorage, in which it’s the easiest thing in the world to be calm.

But the calm transforms into a buzzing, sparking excitement as the beach house falls back into our sights. The windows are glowing with warm, buttery light. I can’t see any movement from within, so I’m not sure what to expect.

I really feel like everything should have gone well. Still, there’s nervous anticipation in my stomach. I don’t want to assume, don’t want to let myself be thrilled and happy until I know for sure. There’s a very real possibility that I misread everything.

I try to remind myself of that. To prepare myself, just in case.

Aiden releases his light as we approach the beach house. The sliding glass doors are closed, and the white, gauzy curtains are closed behind them. Normally we’d just go in, but this time I knock.

There’s a silence, and then footsteps. I hold my breath, hold Aiden’s fingers tightly.

We both go very still as a figure appears behind the curtains. The door and the curtains are pushed aside in the same movement, and - Noah is there.

His long black hair is loose around his shoulders, slightly wavy from all the saltwater. He’s still barefoot, in his boardshorts, his thin, torn-up black shirt. He looks about the same as he did when we left, except -

There’s a ring on the tattooed hand resting against the door.

My eyes go directly to it, and so do Aiden’s. We both stare at it in complete silence.

Before either of us can move or react, Mel and Raj appear behind Noah. They have matching, elated grins on their faces. Mel’s eyeliner is all messed up, and Raj looks a little dazed, but they’re both simply beaming at us.

“Oh, my god!” I shout, and there’s an instant uproar.

Everyone starts yelling and laughing, except for Noah. Aiden and I practically trip over each other in our eagerness to get inside. Aiden opens his arms as Raj goes zipping into them, and Melanie laughs, a burst of renewed tears finishing off the last of her eyeliner.

I stumble over Aiden’s foot and crash directly into Noah, but rather than right myself, I throw my arms around him. I give him a long, tight hug, smiling and smiling -

Oh - what am I doing?

“Oh, god, I’m so sorry!” I let Noah go immediately, stepping back. “I’m sorry, I’m just so-”

I stop, looking up at Noah. This is the first glimpse I've caught of his expression. It would appear that this is one of those rare times when it’s fine that I hugged him.

He’s unusually quiet, especially given the whirlwind of excitement going on around him, but. By no means could anyone mistake him for unhappy.

His smile lights up his whole face. I sense that it comes right from the core of him. That’s the only way it could radiate out so powerfully. He didn’t hug me back, but he’s looking down at me with nothing but warmth and happiness in his gaze. Unclouded, absolute. The dimples by his mouth are deeper and sharper than I’ve ever seen them.

Even if none of that was the case, though - even if he wasn’t wearing the ring and had no expression at all - I would know what had happened. I would know, because of his eyes.

Two pools of liquid chrome, shining brighter than I’ve ever seen them.

~~~~

I sit up in bed, blinking drowsily. It must be very late, but something woke me up.

I think I heard quiet footsteps on the stairs.

I look down at Aiden, who is still deeply asleep, his cheek on the pillow. I press a kiss onto his forehead, then slip out of bed and find a t-shirt to pull on before I go downstairs.

Red embers are still glowing in the corner fireplace of the kitchen. Casting their warm light, just enough to see by. I pause there, toasting my fingers before it, then realize that the sliding glass doors are open.

Noah is sitting on the concrete step. Silent, unmoving. His feet in the sand, his arms around his knees.

Everyone had burst into wild celebration when Aiden and I got back. Laughing and talking until we were so exhausted that we had to drag ourselves up to bed.

But Noah has been so quiet all night. He's barely said a word.

I think he might be overwhelmed. While the conversation went on around him, his gaze would drop to the ring that he's wearing. His fingers kept going to feel it, as if he was checking that it was still there. He also kept staring at Raj and Mel in a dazed kind of way. His grey eyes were enormous with disbelief, all night long.

I hesitate, looking at him. Then I cross the fire-lit kitchen and open the fridge.

Noah is so absorbed in his thoughts that he doesn’t seem to hear or notice me until I hold the cold beer out in front of his face.

He blinks and looks up at me, then lets out a soft laugh through his nose. He moves over, and I sit down next to him. I realize that I forgot to grab a bottle opener, but before I can get back up, Noah fits the cap of his beer against the step, hits it with his palm. It easily pops off. He hands me the open bottle, then opens the other one and takes a sip.

We sit in silence for a few minutes, working on our beers, looking out at the water. The moon is high, the sky clear, filled only with stars. A late-night fog clings to the surface of the sea, so that it looks like an ocean of clouds. Silvery and luminous in the starlight.

Noah takes deep, long breaths of the cold air. I smile to myself, watching him.

He looks completely possessed by serene, radiant bliss. I can tell that there’s a richness and fullness, an immense depth to his happiness. It shines out through his eyes, which are still intensely bright. I could sense it before I even sat down by his side.

Still having trouble speaking, it seems like. But that’s okay. There’s a naturalness to the silence between us, and besides, I don’t really need him to say anything. He’s been silent all night, but his eyes, his expression, his body language - they’ve been doing a lot of talking.

I’ve seen him happy a lot, since that first night when he showed up at my door with his face, hands, and heart so badly brutalized. I know that he’s reached serious heights of love and joy since then. I think of the morning after he, Raj, and Mel all decided to be together. That light in his eyes.

But I’ve never seen him happy quite like this. Nowhere close, in fact.

It’s definitely why he’s being so quiet. This whole thing broke him to pieces, but in the best possible way.

He looks absolutely exhausted, but he’s still smiling.

I tear my gaze away, look out at the water again. I don’t want to stare at Noah and make him uncomfortable, even though I really wish I could snap a picture of the expression on his face. It’s so good on him.

“Can’t fall asleep?” I ask.

Noah looks down at the ring again, nibbling his lip.

“Don’t want to,” he says, very quietly. “Don’t want to wake up, and…”

He leaves the sentence unfinished.

“It’ll still be there in the morning, Noah." I nod up at the window of his, Raj, and Mel’s bedroom. “They will, too.”

Noah breathes out a slow exhale, runs a hand through his hair.

“How am I…” He shakes his head, that dazed look in his eyes again. “How am I supposed to believe this, man? Seriously, how?”

I look at him, do a bit of thinking before I answer.

“You can believe it because I’m telling you that it’s the truth, and I can’t lie.”

Noah looks back at me, his chin resting on his palm. “Mm. That’s right, you can't.”

“Honestly, though, I don’t think you need that,” I tell him. “You’re already starting to believe it, aren’t you? Raj and Mel are getting you there. Or there wouldn’t be this look on your face.”

Noah doesn’t answer. But his eyes haven’t stopped shining, and that’s its own kind of answer.

“You and Aiden seem awful happy, yourselves,” he observes. “Had a good time wherever you snuck off to together?”

“Yep,” I answer immediately, to a laugh from Noah. “But, I mean - we’re just happy for you, man. I know that Aiden…”

I fade off, and Noah’s grey eyes flit to my face.

“Aiden what?”

“Aiden, um…” I hesitate, choosing my words. “He felt really bad about it. About how things were with you. He wishes that he’d been here, so that you didn’t have to deal with Ralph alone for so long. He told me that he felt like he'd never been a good enough friend to you in the first place. Even in high school.”

“What?” Noah blinks at me, taken aback. “He said that? But - Aiden was like, my closest friend, before he left.”

I tip my head to the side, the warmth in my heart spreading.

“Aiden thinks that he wasn’t a good friend to me?” Noah asks, his eyebrows furrowed. “And he thinks it’s his fault? The shit with Ralph?”

“Not his fault, just - he wishes that he’d been there for you. He wishes that he’d been better to you in high school, too. That's why he's in such a good mood. He's happy to see you so happy." I nudge Noah's arm with my elbow. "Your friendship means a lot to him. And not just because you two go way back.”

Noah stares at me, then looks out at the sea, thinking hard.

I turn around, hearing footsteps on the wooden stairs. Aiden steps down into the kitchen, sleepy blue eyes searching for me. He must have felt that I was gone from the bed.

He wakes up a little more when he sees me and Noah on the step. He comes over and stops behind me, twines a finger into my hair. I lean back against his legs to smile up at him.

“Hi,” he rumbles, his deep voice husky with sleep. “Am I interrupting?”

Noah shakes his head, then moves over to make room. Aiden drops to sit down next to him, sinks his feet into the sand.

“You alright?” he murmurs, blue eyes fixed on Noah.

Noah turns his head, looks at Aiden. A few more seconds pass in silence before he speaks.

“You want to be my best man, Aiden?”

Aiden’s head jerks back, his startled eyes blinking hard and fast. He looks over Noah’s head at me, but I can’t say anything. The love in my heart has spilled over, and I’m just sitting here with my fingers pressed over my mouth.

Aiden’s eyes go back to Noah. “Are you - really, Noosh?”

Noah nods, and Aiden stares at him, stunned. Then he huffs out a warm, incredulous laugh.

“Yes, man. Holy shit! Yeah, I - definitely!”

He gives Noah’s shoulder a shove, and they both laugh. Noah’s grey eyes are so bright again, and I think that Aiden is having to work hard to not give off accidental Heliomancer light. I sense him struggling with it, diverting it.

A soft, caressing warmth comes over us instead, embracing us where we sit on the step. I relax in it, smiling to myself.

Noah chose his best man. And it’s increasingly clear that he’s going to succumb to his exhaustion soon, let himself sleep. It means that he’s finally starting to grasp that this is really happening.

Slowly but surely, he’s letting himself believe that this is real.