Sunlight filtered through the high studio windows, golden and too honest.
Ayden blinked awake slowly.
He was warm. Wrapped in arms. Held.
It took a moment before memory returned in flashes—
Velvet under his back.
Luca's hands.
Luca's mouth.
The way his name had sounded when whispered against skin.
He inhaled too sharply.
Luca stirred behind him.
"Mmm… you're awake," Luca murmured, voice hoarse with sleep.
Ayden didn't move. "You stayed."
"You asked me to."
Ayden hesitated, then turned slightly. Luca's curls were messier than usual. His eyes half-lidded. He looked… peaceful.
Ayden didn't know what to do with that.
"I should shower," he said quietly.
"You can do that after you let me kiss you again."
Ayden stared.
Luca just smiled.
And so Ayden did something completely uncharacteristic.
He leaned forward and kissed him first.
Soft. Slow. Uncertain.
Luca pulled him closer, deepening it just a little. It wasn't lust anymore. It wasn't tension.
It was intimacy.
But reality crept in when Ayden stood and started dressing in silence.
Luca watched him. "You okay?"
"Yes."
"You're lying."
Ayden didn't answer.
Luca sat up, pulling on his hoodie. "Look. What happened last night—I don't regret it. Not even a second. But if you do—"
"I don't," Ayden said quickly.
Luca blinked. "Okay."
Ayden's voice dropped. "I'm not good at this."
"You don't have to be," Luca said. "Just… don't shut me out."
Ayden finally turned.
There was something fragile in his gaze. "What if I already don't know how to be without you?"
Luca stood and kissed his forehead. "Then you don't have to learn."
Later, when they left the studio together, Luca's hand brushed Ayden's for a moment too long.
Camille, sitting on the steps with Theo, saw everything.
They didn't say a word.
But they both grinned.