Page 51 of We Are Just Us

“Nothing.” Rory’s voice was incredibly low, private, almost confessional. “Just you.”

The quiet returned, easier this time. Kieran traced the dip between two of Rory’s ribs, feeling them expand and contract, thinking about how strange it was to know someone’s body this intimately after months of only knowing his voice, his laugh, the way he stood in a driveway.

Then, carefully, like the words might shatter if he said them too fast, Rory asked, “Should I go?”

Kieran went still. It would have been easier to say yes. Easier to let the night end cleanly, to let Rory gather his clothes and his kindness and leave before Kieran could want too much from him. Before wanting became humiliating. Before staying became something he might need.

“No,” Kieran said. Then, quieter, stripped of every defense he owned, “Stay.”

Rory exhaled a long, unsteady breath—the sound of a body releasing a weight it forgot it was carrying. He pulled Kieran closer, his chin resting against the top of Kieran’s head, and Kieran let himself be gathered in. He let himself be held without calculating what it meant or how much it would hurt him later. “Okay,” he said into his hair. “Then I’ll stay.”

Outside, the crickets chirped steadily in the yard. A car passed on a distant road, its headlights sweeping briefly across the bedroom ceiling before disappearing back into the dark. The house did its usual nighttime settling—the creak of contracting wood, the low hum of the refrigerator cycling on—the familiar sounds Kieran usually slept through, but tonight heard like music.

His body was heavy in the best possible way, the bone-deep exhaustion that only comes after you’ve finally stopped bracing yourself for impact. Sleep pulled heavy at the edges of his awareness, but he fought it for another minute. Then another. Not because he was afraid Rory would vanish if he closed his eyes, but because he wanted to remember this exact moment—of someone choosing to stay.

Rory’s breathing evened out first, slow and deep, his body going completely slack as he surrendered to sleep without apology.

Kieran’s eyes grew heavy, his forehead resting against Rory’s chest. The last thing he registered before the dark took him was the slow, warm expansion of Rory’s chest beneath his cheek, and the terrifying, beautiful hope that when the morning came, neither of them was going to run.

Tonight, this was enough.

FIFTEEN

Kieran woke to warmth and weight and the vague sense that his body had been borrowed overnight by someone who knew what they were doing.

His eyes opened slowly, adjusting to the soft gray light filtering through the curtains. Morning. Early, based on how quiet everything was. The kind of quiet before the world decided whether to commit to the day.

He became aware of three things simultaneously.

One…he was naked.

Two…Rory was pressed against his back, one arm slung heavy across his waist, warm breath steady against his shoulder.

Three…Rory had an undeniable erection nudging insistently against the curve of his ass.

Kieran’s brain caught up.

Oh.

He was frozen in that particular brand of panic that came from not knowing the protocol. Was this normal? Was he supposed to acknowledge it? Ignore it? Pretend he was still asleep and let Rory deal with the situation himself?

Then Rory shifted, hips pressing forward with enough intention that it was obviously not accidental.

“You awake?” Rory’s voice came low and rough, sleep-thick and unapologetic.

Kieran swallowed. “Yeah.”

“Good,” Rory murmured, and his hand slid lower, fingers splaying across Kieran’s stomach. Not grabbing. Not demanding. Just there, holding him in place with casual possession.

Kieran’s body responded before his brain caught up, heat pooling low and immediate, his own cock filling with interest.

“Rory…” he started.

“I’ve been awake for like twenty minutes,” Rory said, mouth brushing the back of Kieran’s neck. “Lying here. Trying to be respectful.”

“How’s that going?”

Rory’s hips rolled forward again, impatient this time, and Kieran felt the hard length of him slide against his ass in a way that made his breath hitch.