I looked around the condo curiously.  “So…you’re renting this?”

Riven groaned.  “No, Dad bought it.  ‘Real estate is a good investment, Riven,’ or whatever excuse he used, but he decided it was better than me renting.”  He flopped down on the comfy-looking couch in front of the TV and patted the seat next to him, which I immediately took.  “He also got my car brought over here, which I’m afraid to ask how expensive that was.”

I kind of wanted to laugh, but managed to hold it back into an affectionate smile.  Riven had lived with his dad for over three years and still wasn’t used to the idea of someone spending money on him.  He’d actually worked extremely hard to make sure he got a scholarship so his dad wouldn’t pay for his college costs, but Percy had still taken care of his housing, anyway.

“He says it’s my graduation gift, too.”  Riven slid closer to me and rested his head on my shoulder.  “So I can sell it if I want to but otherwise it’s mine to do whatever I want with it.”

I looked around the condo with more interested eyes as I wrapped one arm around his shoulders.  It was a simple two-bedroom place, not that fancy, with the bedrooms upstairs while downstairs had a kitchen, garage, dining room, and living room.  Oh, and a small backyard, too.

“You need plants,” I said instantly.  “You don’t have any and that’s no good.”

“I have one.”  Riven pointed towards the ceiling.  “That begonia you gave me is in my bedroom.”

“Oh.”  I found a smile blooming across my face.  “Well, good.  But you need more.  Also, your backyard could use some work, you need a garden.”

Riven patted my stomach gently.  “You’re the fairy, Ren, I’m just a normal Vist/unicorn hybrid and I’m not actually allergic to not having plants everywhere.”

I made a noise of protest, but I was also trying not to focus too much on everywhere he was resting against me.  “Yeah, but I’ll be over a lot, right?  So it needs plants.”

“Fine.”  Riven tilted his head back to look at my face, his eyes amused.  “I’ll put that in your capable hands since you’re better with plant stuff than me, but that also means you’re responsible for upkeep.  So I hope you plan to come over here a lot and take care of all these plants you intend to foist upon me.”

“Works for me.”  I smiled back brightly, more than happy with his terms.

“Also,” he motioned towards the walls, “I want some of those pictures from our trip for artwork, okay?”

“Oh!”  A blush covered my face.  “Sure, of course – that – I can print them off for you.  Dad got me a fancy photo printer last Christmas so I could print stuff off professionally.  We’d just need some frames and you’re all set.  Oh, and pick which pictures you want.”

He nodded and reached for my phone to start going through the pictures.

While he was doing that, I considered this moment of us sitting on the couch, him in my arms.  Riven had decided to come back to Avenglade for college, which meant this was going to be a regular thing from now on.  I hoped.  Only….

I frowned a bit, suddenly realizing something.  Riven was going to be here all alone.  I’d initially assumed he’d stay in the dorms or something, which had kind of frustrated me with the idea that he’d have roommates, because of jealousy that they might see more of him than I had thus far and frustration that we wouldn’t have good space for alone time.  So when I’d first learned he was going to be staying in his own place, it seemed like a great idea.

But now I wasn’t so sure.  “You won’t be lonely being here all by yourself?”

“No, I’m fine.  I’m not a fairy, I don’t need people around me 24/7.”  He patted my stomach again, but his focus was still on my phone.  “Besides, I spent most of my life alone until three years ago and I’m planning on you being over a lot, plus your family, Nathan and Benji, maybe some college friends.  I don’t mind having some alone time, you know.  I’ll be fine.  Don’t worry so much.”

I still didn’t entirely like the idea of him being here alone at night.  He could always call me and I’d come right over if he was lonely, but still.

A potential solution offered itself to me.  “Why don’t you get a pet?”

Riven paused and turned to look at me.  “A…pet.”

“To keep you company when someone else isn’t here.”  I loved animals, but it suddenly dawned on me that I had no idea if Riven did.  “Would you like a pet?”

His face turned a little dreamy.  “Yeah.  I think…I think that sounds awesome.”

I felt relieved that he’d accepted my idea.  “I can go with you if you want to find one at the shelter, help you pick it out and all?”

Riven leaned over to kiss my cheek.  “Sounds perfect, love.”  Then he settled back into my embrace with his back against me, his head resting on my shoulders, and returned to perusing the pictures.

I wrapped my arm around his waist, pulling him slightly closer, and pressed a kiss to the side of his head.  I knew I was still technically a kid – only halfway through high school – but I was already positive that Riven was my future.  Eventually, this would be my every day, coming home to Riven, spending all day with him, basking in his smile.

I kind of wished I could grow up faster so I could get there sooner, but on the other hand…I didn’t want to waste even a moment of my precious time with Riven.

~~~~~ 

Benji threw a pillow at me.  “You’re supposed to shoot the guy, not agro him and run off!”

I raised my hands defensively.  “You’re the one who decided I’d play on your team even though I warned you I was no good at this!”

Benji pointed at me as Riven came in with some cookies.  “Riven,” he whined loudly, “your boyfriend is being deliberately uncooperative!  He knows how to play this, he just doesn’t want to, so he’s being bad at it on purpose so I’ll let him stop.”

“That’s what you get for forcing him to join you,” Sorrel pointed out, taking a handful of popcorn.  “It’s your own fault if you end up losing.”

“Hmm,” Riven pretended to consider Benji’s complaint.  “Well, you did draft him without my permission, so I’m afraid I have to side with Ren on this.”

“Thanks, babe,” I reached up to grab his hand, then tugged him so he ended up losing his balance and falling into my lap.  I immediately wrapped my arms around him in a tight hug so he couldn’t escape.  “Love you,” I added, looking up at him innocently.

Riven laughed, then kissed the top of my head and settled in comfortably.  “This is an interesting birthday party for you,” he mused.

This year, for my 17^th birthday, I’d specifically requested getting to spend the day with Riven and just hanging out.  Somehow Benji heard and thought I meant having a guys’ day, which was fine, I guess, but I would have to admit it wasn’t quite what I was picturing when I said I wanted to spend the day with Riven.

Something jumped up onto the back of the couch and brushed its fluffy tail against the back of Benji’s head, before regally walking in our direction to give Riven an affectionate head rub.

One of Riven’s cats, a Ragdoll named Casper who only acted like a Ragdoll around him and acted like an standoffish prince with everyone else, then felt that he had graced us with enough of his presence and it was time to leave – before Sorrel got a chance to pet him.

Sorrel looked after him with an agonized expression.  “He’s so soft and I just want to pet him!  Eventually I’ll win him over,” he promised no one in particular.

Riven’s other cat, Ink, a sleek black cat with mismatched eyes, suddenly appeared next to Sorrel, blinking.  Sometimes I swore that cat knew magic, it was so silent – it seemed to move in the shadows intentionally, too, as if trying to scare people.

“Oh hey,” Sorrel immediately began petting the mini house panther, who started purring loudly enough the entire room could hear, “aren’t you a sweetie?  So much nicer than the little ice prince over there, aren’t you, baby?”

Nathan rolled his eyes.  “Well, we lost Sorrel to a cat, so Riven, you want to join us?”  He pointed at Sorrel’s controller.

“Fine.”  Riven leaned over enough to retrieve the controller from next to Sorrel, but didn’t get out of my lap as Benji went to start the game again.  Granted, it made it slightly more awkward for me to play, but I wouldn’t have changed that for the world.

Apparently having Riven and me on Nathan and Benji’s teams, respectively, helped even them out a bit so it wasn’t as cut-and-dry as when Sorrel and Nathan were basically dominating Benji and me.  Okay, Benji unfortunately still had a major disadvantage with having me on his team – I got distracted every time Riven shifted in my lap, his look of concentration so adorable I really wanted to just kiss him.  I tried to pay attention to the game, but all in all, it wasn’t exactly a surprise when we lost.

Benji, however, sighed dramatically and flopped back on the couch.  “I thought you’re supposed to let the birthday boy win, Nathan!”

I gave him a pointed look.  “Is that why you chose me for your team?  You thought they’d go easy on me?”

“Well…maybe.”  Benji’s expression turned mischievous.  “What are you going to do about it?”

“Nathan?”  Riven asked.  “Where is Benji most ticklish?”

Benji immediately shot off of the couch and started backing away, complaining that that was unfair, then getting louder when he noticed the conspiratorial looks Nathan and I exchanged.

He nevertheless survived our tickling attack, and Sorrel eventually managed to escape the vortex of a cat giving him attention – I mean demanding attention from him – so we ate some ice-cream, watched a movie, and then we started to head off.

I paused as Sorrel went to the car ahead of me.

“Riven,” I reached out to grab him by the waist and pull him against me, “thanks for letting me come over today.  I love you, babe.”  I leaned down to give him an intense, hungry kiss.  I was starting to want more than just kissing him, but I understood we weren’t there yet.  However, I wasn’t opposed to giving him a bit of a preview, as it were – a reminder that there was more we could do at some point.

Given his red face when I broke the kiss, I was pretty sure he got the hint.  I smiled at him, brushed one more kiss against his mouth, then ran off after Sorrel before he came looking for me.

This day might have not gone exactly as I had initially planned, but I didn’t really mind getting to play games with Sorrel, Nathan, and Benji, too, and it had been fun.  Riven had fun, I had fun – and I still got to spend the day with him, so really, it was all good.

I was grateful that I now got to see him almost every day and often spend several hours with him each day – he’d even given me a key to his place for my birthday, so now I was planning to come over and start making him breakfast regularly since I didn’t have to sleep as much as he did and I could help him out that way – but I was also learning that spending time physically together after almost three years of long-distance dating was making it harder for me to ignore things that I hadn’t focused on much before.  I was starting to want things for our relationship that I hadn’t wanted before because we’d rarely spent much time together physically – and now that we were, I found I kind of wanted more.  I was getting greedy for more.  I wanted all of Riven.  I had his heart and soul, in a way, but now I wanted his body, too.

Eventually, I told myself.  Eventually we’d get to that point.