28
Darren
“Heeey, you awake?”Bea’s rich voice chimed through Darren’s earpiece, stirring him awake.
“Yeah?” he responded, tracing his thumb down Aiden’s spine.
It seemed like they’d fallen asleep in each other’s arms at some point, tangled together in bed without even bothering to slip under the covers. It couldn’t have been long ago though, seeing as the arm Darren had under Aiden’s head was just mildly cramped.
Smiling, Darren pulled back a little and gazed at Aiden. His sleeping face filled Darren’s vision, copper eyelashes fanned across ivory cheeks and full, slightly swollen lips breathing in and out at evenly spaced intervals. Aiden looked peaceful. He was fully relaxed with the exception of his slanted down eyebrows, which betrayed the tendrils of turmoil still plaguing him on the inside.
It would take time, Darren knew and accepted that. What he’d done to Aiden was unforgivable and it would leave a scar Darren couldn’t erase. Wouldn’t try to, because Claudia hadbeen a big part of Aiden’s life, a partner in that same way Darren craved to be. Her memory would forever live on in Aiden, but with time Darren hoped Aiden would forget the hurtful parts and let him replace them with happy ones.
Darren placed a soft kiss on Aiden’s forehead, feeling an unbearable squeeze in his chest that left him a little breathless at how right it felt to wake up beside Aiden. A sense of bittersweet belonging spread through him, lighting him up as he etched into memory this moment so he could come back to it whenever the world overwhelmed him.
He wasn’t alone anymore. He had Aiden by his side because Aiden had chosen him again.
Smoothing out the line between Aiden’s eyebrows with his thumb, Darren placed a chaste kiss on Aiden’s lips, careful not to wake him up.
“Have you seen Aiden?”Bea asked, drawing out the question at the end in a way that told Darren she knew exactly where Aiden was.
Carefully, he extricated himself from Aiden’s arms and sat up, swinging his legs over the bed’s edge. “He’s… with me. Why?”
Bea hummed and he could hear the smile in her voice.“Explains why he didn’t answer my or Rick’s calls. But… I’m glad to hear he’s with you.”
Darren’s heart beat a little faster at her words. At the easy acceptance and the genuine fondness. “Did you need him for something? I can wake him up.”
“As much as I’d love to say no and let you two laze around in bed, we’ll be passing through some rocks in about ten minutes. It will get a little bumpy. You might want to strap in if you won’t be coming up to the bridge anytime soon.”
“That bad?” he said, retrieving a pair of pants and a shirt from the built-in wardrobe.
Aiden looked like he could use a change of clothes too, so Darren pulled the black shirt with the purple lotuses off its hanger, knocking the bag with spare underwear and socks he’d bought in Calisto when they’d gone to collect Kristen. The contents spilled, including the red g-string. He picked it up and stared at it for a few moments, heat stirring in his groin.
“Yeah. It’s a medium-sized cluster, but there are quite a few big ones.”
“I’ll… wake Aiden up and we’ll join you in a few.”
“See you in a bit!”she chuckled and clicked off.
Darren returned to the bed and ran his fingers through Aiden’s copper hair. Like his own, it had grown a bit in the past two months, transforming from neat to a little messy in a way that made Darren smile every time the longer bits flopped over Aiden’s forehead.
“Aiden,” he said, stroking Aiden’s cheek and shaking him gently.
With seemingly great effort, two hazel eyes opened slowly, unfocused at first until they locked on his face. Slightly frowning, Aiden scrambled into a seating position and relaxed his back against the headboard.
“I passed out,” Aiden concluded, raking a hand through his sleep-tousled hair.
Darren nodded. “We both did.” He watched Aiden yawn, something warm stirring in his chest. “But I’m afraid we didn’t catch more than an hour of sleep. We are almost at the hideout and Bea’s warned me we are about to go through a cluster of debris and rocks.”
Aiden shuffled off the bed. His clothes were creased everywhere and he frowned at them, scrunching his nose. Stepping in, Darren handed him the black shirt he’d retrieved.
“Thanks,” Aiden said, his eyes zeroing in on the g-string. He studied it for a couple of heartbeats, his mouth twitching up on one side. Darren was about to ask what was so funny, when Aiden fished out the black thong Darren had gotten him on Earth. “Do you have a thing for lingerie?” he said, waving the underwear. “I meant to ask you that earlier, but forgot.”
Darren looked between the two pairs. “That depends. Are you going to put it on if I said yes?”
Aiden hummed in thought, snatching the red pair. “I’ve not really worn something like this before,” he said, his hazel eyes focused on the underwear. “Red or black?”
Darren’s cock gave an approving jerk, causing him to adjust himself. He leaned in closer and pressed his lips to Aiden’s, flicking his tongue out though not deepening the kiss. “Black. To go with my shirt. I’d also ask you to jerk off for me on the bed like that recurring fantasy I keep having, but I don’t think we have time for that right now.”
