Haven - Part One
This episode is part of a larger story, Soft Touch. If you haven’t yet, you can go back and read it from the beginning right here. The episode below is NSFW and contains mature content.
I have to park my car across the street from my building, so Aiden and I end up sprinting through the rain to reach the door. It’s actually snowing, everywhere but directly around the two of us. Aiden is still radiating enough warmth that the flakes turn to drops before they land.
Which means that even if we hadn’t taken an unexpected fall into the river, we’d be arriving here drenched, anyways.
“Jesus!” I gasp, as we huddle in the doorway. “Why do we always end up like this?”
Aiden laughs, raindrops rolling down his cheek. The sweet huffing sound sends a tingling feeling through me, all by itself.
“I really need no one to find themselves in grave danger, right now,” he says, peering out at the snow. “I want the night off.”
“Hang on, I’ll make an announcement.” I twist to face the road, cup my hands around my mouth. “People of Ketterbridge, listen up!” I yell, and Aiden bursts into laughter again, smacking my hands down.
I wink at him, then open the door of my building.
We’re laughing, stumbling, pushing each other as we race up the stairs, all the way into my apartment, where we stop to pull off our shoes and socks. I slip out of my jacket, toss it aside, and turn to look at Aiden.
He’s already looking at me. A raindrop rolls along the strong line of his jaw, down his throat. It disappears into his soaked shirt, which is clinging to his body.
My breath catches in my throat.
It’s all been playful and rushed and full of laughter, up until this moment. But now, we stare at each other, suddenly very serious. Only the tapping of the Guardian-made rain against the windows to fill the silence.
Aiden moves closer to me. I’m motionless, staring into his blue eyes. Everything he wants is naked in his gaze, and I’m hypnotized by it.
The air between us is charged with intensity. My entire body feels like an electrical current, humming and vibrating.
Aiden stops in front of me. I reach up automatically and comb a strand of chestnut hair out of his face.
Aiden closes his eyes for a moment, then opens them again and looks down at me, biting his lip.
He’s nervous. I am, too.
We both hold very still, and then - Aiden smooths his hands over my sides, to my back, and locks his arms around me. He brings me into a close, tight hug. Drops his head to press his nose into my shoulder.
Such an infinitely tender thing to do. It pulls the breath right out of my lungs.
I rest my cheek against his chest. Snuggle into his warmth. Twine my arms around him, take deep breaths of him, let our heartbeats mingle. His body is so familiar by now, and it feels so perfectly right pressed against mine like this.
The nerves fluttering in my stomach begin to grow calm. The center of my gravity shifts towards Aiden. My racing heartbeat doesn’t slow down, but it stops hammering in my ears, and I hear the rain rushing against the windows with complete clarity.
Aiden and I stand there, intertwined, breathing together.
When I open my eyes again, my apartment is filled with magic fireflies.
I like to think that my place is nice and cozy, even under normal circumstances. It has a warm ambiance, designed for plants to grow and blossom in. Safe and nurturing, everything chosen for comfort.
Half-lit with the glow of Aiden’s fireflies, it takes on a richer feeling, close and intimate. Not only a warm place, not only a safe haven - a little universe, just for us. The fireflies drift over the leaves of my houseplants and the soft cushions on my couch, flickering like stars.
I cuddle my face back into Aiden’s chest. Somehow I’m relaxed, but also completely charged up. There’s a thread linking our breaths, our energy, our emotions. The same electricity humming in my veins is burning in Aiden’s, too.
This is it. The moment is right, and we both know it.
Very gently, Aiden pulls back. I look into his eyes and see the spark of fire in them. See my own fire reflecting back at me.
Aiden hesitates, then gathers my hand into both of his. Surprises me by placing my palm flat over his heart. He leaves his hand on top of mine, keeping it pressed there.
His heart is racing. I look up at him, blinking hard. He lets out a helpless laugh, and I break into a smile.
I take his free hand with mine and place it over my own heart, in the same way. Aiden feels that my heartbeat is stumbling and rushing just like his, and now we both laugh softly, tipping our foreheads together.
I’ve never done this with someone I’m in love with. I think it’s safe to say the same for Aiden.
This is new for both of us.
But I’m determined not to overthink it. I want to stay present, give myself over to the moment. Aiden is so beautiful, so special, so precious to me. I want to communicate that with every touch. I don’t have room to worry about anything else, so I let it all go.
I drop all of my expectations and nerves, and just breathe Aiden into my heart.
He must hear my note steadying out. His fingers drop from my chest, and mine drop from his.
I gaze up into Aiden’s eyes as slowly, one by one, he undoes the buttons of my flannel.
Sometimes Aiden tears my clothes off of me. Once he ripped a button right off of my jeans. I remember the sharp click of it landing on the floor, the sound of it rolling away. But no matter how desperate Aiden is to get my clothes off, he always takes care not to harm my flannels.
His fingers reach the bottom button, undo it. He stops for a second, then slides his hands onto my shoulders, between my flannel and my t-shirt. One quick movement, and my flannel slips down my arms, lands softly on the floor.
I’m holding so still. I don’t move an inch as Aiden lifts a hand to my face.
Very lightly, he touches his fingers to my lips. They linger there, then move to trace my jaw. He touches my nose with his thumb, then my cheek, trailing over my freckles. I close my eyes. He’s using both hands, now. I feel his thumbs press gently against my lips, then slide down to my chin, then drift down my throat.
His hands move like he’s traced this path in his head thousands of times.
I find myself in some altered state of consciousness. Every feeling is so vivid, every touch magnified.
I open my eyes and find Aiden’s glittering blue gaze on my face. His mouth, soft and full, slightly open. He’s a little breathless, in a trance, watching me react to the featherlight movements of his fingers.
It strikes me that he hasn’t even kissed me yet, and I let out a dazed laugh.
Aiden tips his head to the side, questioning me with his eyes.
“Sorry, it’s just - you’re gonna kill me, man,” I stammer. “You realize that?”
A soft huff of laughter. “That’s funny, Keane. I was just thinking that you’re gonna kill me.”
I’m about to lean up, kiss him. But something occurs to me, and I step back. Aiden blinks in surprise, watching as I cross my living room.
I stop by the windows. Rain is blustering against them, but I open the middle one, just a crack. Enough to let some fresh air inside. I’m comfortable as we are, but I want Aiden to be comfortable, too.
He sees what I’m doing, and understands why I’m doing it. A ridiculous, heartthrob smile rises on his face.
He strides across the living room, directly to me. My heart skips a beat, then another.
Aiden bends towards me, and I meet him halfway, winding my arms around his neck.
I’m burningly aware of his hands, how they feel beneath my shirt. Of his tongue stirring mine, his glossy chestnut hair between my fingers. He drops his head, puts his mouth to my throat. I cling tightly to him, savoring the delicious tickle of his stubble. Over the curve of his shoulder, the fireflies glimmer softly. Miniature constellations.
Aiden’s palm smooths over the front of my jeans. His other hand is grasping the back of my neck, holding me in place so that he can drag his tongue up my throat, then across my jaw. My cheeks are on fire - my whole body is on fire, actually - and I’m stroking my fingers through his hair, soft sounds already escaping my mouth.
Aiden feeds on them, his breath picking up against me. My breath is picking up, too, more and more with each teasing movement of his hand.
In a haze of all-encompassing pleasure, I drop my head onto Aiden’s shoulder, then bite his shoulder, hard.
Aiden makes a rushing sound with his breath. A burst of heat I feel against my neck, a subtle sound that makes me melt into his arms.
He pulls back and looks down at me, his chest rising and falling fast.
His blue eyes are dilated, smoldering, practically smoking. He threads his fingers through mine, then casts a meaningful glance at my bedroom.
I adore this about Aiden. He doesn’t treat consent like a permission slip you secure at the start of something like this. He knows that it can be withdrawn or adjusted at any point. Every now and then, he stops to make sure he still has it.
He’s doing that right now. Even though he’s looking at me like he can barely control himself, he’s waiting for my answer.
I give him the answer by pulling him into a long kiss, biting his lips, handfuls of his shirt balled up in my fingers. Aiden’s breath hitches. His arms close around me, and I’m lifted off the ground. I wrap my legs around him, licking his throat, making my slow way up his neck as he carries me to my room. Some of the fireflies come with us, trailing in our wake.
Aiden tosses me roughly on the bed, then turns to close the door. I get up and go right back to him. When he faces me again, I grab his shoulder, shove him back into the door with one hard thrust of my arm. Kiss him up against it, while he pulls my body up close to his. My hands are everywhere, following the shapes of his muscles, the graceful contours of his body. I don’t even realize that I’m working on his belt buckle until I hear the soft click of it coming undone.
I drop to my knees, dragging my nose down the front of Aiden’s body as I go. I’m about to do that thing he likes where I unbutton his jeans with my teeth, but his fingers move to curl beneath my chin. He guides my face up until I’m gazing up at him, and he’s gazing down at me.
The look in his eyes stops me still.
A huge, white-hot wave of desire rolls through my body, directly from my heart. It melts down my chest, my arms. It must show in my eyes, because Aiden suddenly looks tantalized beyond what he can bear.
So I don’t hold back.
I’m a bundle of sensations right now. The cool brush of Aiden’s undone zipper against my cheek, back and forth with my movements. His fingers in my hair are trembling, burning hot. My hands are under his shirt, palms running over his skin, then very lightly brushing over the top of his body hair, then sinking deep pressure into the divots of muscle at his hips. The ring on my finger is cold to the touch, and Aiden shivers as it coasts down his abdomen.
I don’t want this to be over yet, so I don’t let myself fall into a steady rhythm. I alternate between intense and light pressure, fast and slow movements. First teasing, light and soft, then hard and hot. I lose all sense of time, my sense of everything except for Aiden’s body, and mine reacting to it.
When I look up, Aiden is dissolved with pleasure, watching me through half-closed eyes. His head tilted back, his lips parted, his chest heaving. I draw back, and Aiden drags me to my feet. He practically throws me onto the bed.
He bends over me and starts roughly undoing my belt, the button of my jeans. My head tilts to the side, and I catch sight of myself in the mirror. My cheeks are crimson, my lips dark from kisses, my eyes heat-glazed and hungry.
I barely recognize this version of myself. I’m not sure I’ve met him before.
My attention snaps back to Aiden as he yanks my shirt up over my head. One by one, each soaked piece of clothing is stripped away, and then Aiden straightens up to get his own clothes off.
I sit up on my elbows, watching him with my lip pinned between my teeth. He’s bathed in the soft golden glow of the fireflies. I watch how the light slides over his powerful muscles, wet with rain.
He leans over me, hooks an arm around my back, moves me further onto the bed. Then he pulls my legs apart and climbs on top of me, chestnut hair falling into his eyes.
I’m drawn up into a heart-stopping kiss, and at the same time, Aiden’s bare body presses against me, flattening me onto the bed.
It slips from my mouth before I can stop it, half a word and half a soft moan. “Aiden.”
I feel his heartbeat stumble. He pulls back just far enough to drag the tip of his nose over mine, a smile turning up his lips.
“I am never gonna get tired of hearing you say my name like that, Keane,” he breathes. “Never.”
He draws back a little more, and I trace my fingers along his hairline, staggered by this heightened form of feeling, how powerfully it’s burning within me.
“I love you,” I say softly, gazing up into his eyes.
Aiden stares down at me for a second, then huffs out a warm, quiet laugh.
“I love you, too.” He traces his fingertips along my collarbone. “Glad we had that conversation before we did this, or I definitely would have said it by accident.”
I laugh, too, and Aiden breaks into a grin. There’s a pause, and he closes his eyes.
“You sound so beautiful, right now,” he sighs happily. “We - we sound...”
He fades off, listening, the smile on his face even more radiant than it was before. He opens his eyes.
Apparently we’re done talking. Aiden pins me to the bed, and I lay back, surrender to whatever he wants to do to me.
We’ve been waiting so long that I thought we might go into it right away, but Aiden has other plans. Long, lingering, achingly good plans. It’s like he wants every inch of my body vibrantly awake for this. His fingers move all over me, gliding along my wet skin, descending, kindling little fires everywhere they go. The drift of his tongue is deliciously warm, but leaves a cool trail behind.
All I can do is breathe, and feel. I’m panting, growing malleable beneath his fingers, gasping softly as Aiden’s tongue pulls across my closed eyelids. He answers every sound I make with his mouth or his fingers, reading even the very slightest tremors of my body.
My nerves are on fire, unbearably awake, and Aiden is whispering sexy things into my ear. His words, wrapped in his deep voice, vibrating through my chest.
He’s enjoying this just as much as I am. I can tell by his heavy breathing, by his body sliding against me, by the waves of heat he’s throwing off. In fact, we’re both reaching a breaking point.
I seriously can’t fucking take one more second of this, so I prop myself up, reach with fumbling fingers for my night table, and wrench open the drawer. I can’t see into it from this angle, so Aiden ends up grabbing what we need. I fall onto my back again, finding my breath - then decide that I can’t let him do everything.
I roll us over, flatten Aiden to the bed, and give him just as thorough of a treatment as he gave me.
He watches me the whole time with dazed eyes, taking fuller and faster breaths until he surges halfway upright. With one hand braced behind him in the bed, he drags me up the length of his body. My knees end up on either side of him, his breath against my parted lips.
A moment passes in stasis, both of us perfectly still. Aiden really must have burned off enough magic running on the river, because nothing has exploded yet.
There’s nothing stopping us, and the air around us is humming with electricity. I can feel it, taste it, breathe it.
I kiss Aiden deeply, then slowly sink down onto his lap. Aiden adjusts his positioning slightly, and our bodies come together in a way that they haven’t before.
A lightning flash of ecstasy tears through my veins. A breathless, shuddering sound escapes my mouth, spills onto Aiden’s lips. He lets out a low moan, his hand on my thigh tightening its grip.
We sit there for a few seconds, shivering.
Aiden’s voice comes out as a soft groan. “Jamie.”
He wants me to move, and I get that - it’s exquisite torture for both of us, holding still like this - but I’m reeling from the shock of such intense pleasure, my cheeks are burning hotter than I knew they could, and all I can manage is a gentle, teasing, rocking motion. Aiden lets out a whimper, then says again, more desperately -
“Jamie.”
I open my eyes, look right into his, see the wildfire burning there.
I would normally flinch away from staring right into someone’s eyes like this. It would make me feel exposed, probably get a nervous laugh out of me.
It’s different with Aiden, though. Everything is different, with him.
I begin to move. Aiden draws in a sharp breath through his teeth, then wraps an arm around my back. His other hand is still braced behind him, buried in the covers. He’s panting into my mouth, his fingertips pressed into the dimples at the base of my spine.
Our breaths sync up together. I slip my tongue into his mouth, taste him over and over again.
A surge of movement from Aiden, and I find myself flat on my back. He rises over me. His gaze stays right with mine as he pushes my legs apart, sinks down between them. And then his mouth is at my neck, my hands are buried in his hair, my thighs wrapped around him. I’m in a kind of dreamstate, discovering that there are heights of pleasure and intimacy I didn’t know were possible. Not only because of what’s happening, but because of who it’s happening with.
Aiden. My Companion Plant.
Heat, rhythmic motion, a back and forth, my arms wrapped around him. I wish I could camp out in this world, in this feeling, for days.
Aiden is going slow, watching my face with hazy, adoring blue eyes. I push my hips up off the bed into his, a movement that tears a noise from his throat and mine. He starts to move a little faster, and I cling to him tightly, our eyes still locked.
I’m lost in him, shivering and gasping, my fingernails digging into his shoulders. Drinking in the sight of his body, the way it’s dappled with light, the way it looks moving against mine. A wave starts to gather in me.
Aiden can tell that I’m already getting close, and he slows us down again. Rests a hand on my heart like he’s reading the beats, like he knows their language.
I don’t even know how many more times this happens, but there comes a point where I can’t take it anymore. Aiden senses this, and this time, he doesn’t slow down. My fingers sink into the rippling muscles of his back, my toes curling. I’m not aware of the sounds rising from my mouth until they’re already ringing in the air between us.
Aiden seems saturated with them, intoxicated by them, breathing them in like oxygen. His cheeks are almost as red as mine, his eyes roaming over me like he wants to remember every second of this. Our bodies are slippery with sweat and rain, and every sound I make is mounting on top of the one that came before.
I take a deep breath, and taste vetiver.
I’m balanced on the precipice, and Aiden knows it. With his gasped words in my ear, his hands on my body, and finally his mouth on mine - he tips me over the edge, and I fall.
I arch up against Aiden, holding him so tightly, my fingers making deep indents in his bronze skin. His name breaks in half in my mouth, so that there’s a breathless, moaning space in the middle. Ai-den.
As soon as he hears this sound, a tremor moves through Aiden’s body. I know that he’s not shaking from exertion. Not my Aiden, who runs miles and miles just for fun. He hisses through his teeth, moving even faster, and I cry out against his neck, wracked with earth-shaking pleasure.
Aiden lets out a deep, rough moan that sounds like it comes from his very core. Jamie.
I swallow that sound, feel it echo and resonate through my entire body.
Aiden falls on top of me, shivering and trembling. I lock my arms around him.
For a long time, we lay like that, just breathing, our bodies entwined. Then Aiden gently rolls off of me, collapses into the bed by my side.
His eyes find mine in the soft golden light, and his hand lifts to trail lightly down the side of my face. He’s clearly having as much trouble speaking right now as I am, but he manages to get a few words out.
“It’s really you,” he breathes, very quietly. “Finally, it’s you.”
I kiss the palm of Aiden’s hand, then gather his fingers into mine.
Completely, totally, hopelessly in love with him, body and soul.
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