Free Short Story: Before We Fall

A one-night stand gone sideways. Or: it’s just Ari’s luck that the boy he wanted to take home needs stitches after a club brawl. While a precautionary trip to the emergency room isn’t Ari’s idea of a fun time, it turns out that a hospital waiting room is a good place to fall in love.

A short and sweet MM romance, exclusive and free for subscribers to my mailing list.  

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Before We Fall

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Sea of bodies, strobelights zipping over the crowd. Heavy bass throbbing from Ari’s stomach to his fingertips, sweat making his shirt stick to the back of his neck. The thick air burned in his eyes. Behind the counter, the three bartenders were struggling to keep pace with the orders shouted their way. Typical Friday night, typical end of a whirlwind week.

Christ, Ari should be asleep. He’d pulled two extra night shifts at the hospital because they were short-staffed with the seasonal flu, and he’d be back on Sunday for another one. Really, he should be in bed, fast asleep; he should not have allowed Kash to guilt-trip him into hanging out at Kash’s place of work since they hadn’t seen each other all week. With how busy things were for the bartenders, it wasn’t as though Kash even had time to chat with Ari.

One beer. One quick beer, and Ari would be on his way.

He was about to flag Kash down for some preferential treatment when a guy squeezed into the spot next to him, hip to hip at the counter. It was a hint too close to be polite. Huh. A quick glance revealed blue, blue eyes and a tousled mess of black hair, plush lips. The guy was tall and slender, broad-shouldered, the curve of his back ending in a cute little bum. A few tattoos were scattered down his left arm. Late twenties, about Ari’s age. Gorgeous.

The moment their eyes met, the guy flashed him a bright grin. Over the roar of the club, his raspy voice only just translated. “What are you having?”

You, Ari decided. He turned fully and tilted his head with a smile of his own. “Whatever you’re buying me.”

If anything, the guy’s grin widened. He had dimples.

Who needed sleep anyway?

***

His name was Niko. He was a terrible, terrible dancer, but the way they fit together was promising.

That was the extent of what Ari learned over the course of the next half hour. There was so much more to know, though—was Niko’s dick proportionate to his large hands? Did he like it fast or slow, prefer to top or bottom? Did he live nearby, and how big was his bed? Would he be cool with a bit of a post-orgasm cuddling before they went their separate ways? Was he wearing lipgloss and if so, was it flavoured?

The music was too loud to ask any of those questions. Then again, words were for losers; real men made their own answers.

With their hips pressed together, Ari nudged Niko’s thighs apart with a leg and twisted closer, rose to the tips of his toes to lessen the height difference between them. Niko sent him a smile and dipped his head. For a bright second, they watched each other, a breath’s width apart, so close that Niko’s features were blurred from more than just the dark club. Then Ari tangled one hand in the mess of Niko’s hair and brought their lips together.

Momentary confusion, noses bumping, better angle. Mouths already open. The quick, clever touch of Niko’s tongue that Ari chased back into Niko’s mouth, twisting closer, eyes squeezed shut. Mirrorball sparks were dancing behind Ari’s lids. Christ. Niko tasted like cherries and dark ale, and Ari wanted those glossy lips stretched around his cock, wanted naked skin, rustling sheets and the heat between them.

He slid his free hand down the back of Niko’s trousers, thumb tucked under the waistband of Niko’s boxers. Too many people around them, raised voices, music, heavy bass, someone colliding with Ari’s back.

Pulling back, Ari smudged a damp kiss onto Niko’s chin and yelled, “Want to get out of—”

He was cut off by a surge of motion. Niko was jostled, tripping into Ari, sudden space clearing beside them, shouting, strobelights blinding in Ari’s eyes. He clung to Niko, somehow managed to keep both of them upright as he struggled to adjust. What—ah, shit. Fucking shit. Two guys locked in a fistfight, one of them lumbering upright. The other tried to grab for a foot, missed, and Ari dragged Niko out of the way as the first bloke came towards them, rushed past for the exit.

Ari never saw the beer mug flying. Neither did Niko, clearly: When a rain of shards exploded on the wall behind him, he flinched and curled into Ari, gasped. In the chorus of shouts around them, Ari almost missed it—almost. But somehow, he caught the quiet noise even amongst the chaos raging around them.

“What?” he asked. “Niko, what? What is it?”

Wide eyes focused on him, their blue almost swallowed by the shadows.

“Niko,” Ari repeated, more urgency behind it.

Niko swallowed before he tried for a smile and moved back a little to show his arm. Blood. He was fucking bleeding, bleeding from a deep gash near his elbow. One of the shards must have hit home. Shit, that was a lot of blood. He’d need stitches.

Brilliant. Just brilliant. Nothing quite broke the mood like a trip to the emergency room.

For an instant, Ari mourned the loss of an opportunity, then felt guilty for it—this boy here must be in a fair bit of pain, and Ari’s first concern was for his dick. That probably made him one.

“Sorry,” Niko mumbled at that precise moment, and again, it was too quiet, yet Ari caught it. And… really? Had Niko really just apologised for being the collateral victim to a club fight? Because he’d glimpsed Ari’s flash of disappointment? Great, now Ari felt like even more of a twat.

He tried for a smile. “What are you sorry for? C’mon.” Not leaving Niko any time for a reply, he grasped his wrist and tugged him towards the bar with gentle insistence.

Although the music continued throbbing away, no one was dancing anymore, the crowd huddled on the edges of the dancefloor. Ari could spot a few other bystanders who appeared to sport minor injuries from the brawl. The guy who’d thrown the glass was just getting up to go after the opponent who’d escaped, or maybe to evade club security. Ari hoped someone would call the police on his sorry arse, and if it hadn’t been for the blood dripping down Niko’s arm, he’d have done so himself.

It might have been the sight of the blood or it might have been Ari’s glare directed at anyone who didn’t jump to make room for them; either way, people cleared a path just as someone finally turned the music down. “Where are we going?” Niko asked, sounding fairly out of his depth.

“First-aid kit,” Ari said over his shoulder. “Get your arm all bandaged up to stop the bleeding, and then I’ll take you to the ER. You need stitches.” When he glanced back, Niko was blinking at him. God, he was hot.

Okay, not now. Right thought, wrong time.

They’d made it to the counter by the time Niko said, “I really don’t think that’s—it’s not that bad? It’s just a lot of blood, but, like… I think it looks worse than it is.”

With the light of the bar allowing for a better inspection, Ari had to agree: it wasn’t quite as bad as he’d initially believed. The gash bled a lot, yes, but that was normal for a wound like that. Still, stitches would be best to prevent scarring. Also, he wasn’t about to let Niko go with just a bandage and a pat on the back, hell no. Especially not if Niko thought Ari was a selfish prick who treated another person’s injury as an instance of cockblocking.

“I’m a nurse,” Ari told him. “And I say this needs stitches. Are you questioning my competence?”

“Of course not!” Niko seemed startled, then contrite about an imagined offense—it wasn’t as though Ari’s job had come up. “I wouldn’t. I just thought… I don’t want to be a bother. Like, you don’t have to take care of me, yeah? I mean, we just met. You didn’t sign up for this.”

“Doesn’t mean I’d leave you to bleed out in some ditch.”

The corners of Niko’s mouth hitched up. “That’s rather dramatic.”

“Dramatic is my middle name.” Ari released Niko’s shoulder and leaned back against the counter, absently noting how Niko’s white T-shirt granted a glimpse of his collarbone. The fabric was stained with smears of blood. “Listen, it’s really okay. It’s simple human decency to make sure you’re fine. Also, I work in a different wing of the hospital, but maybe I can still use it to speed up the wait. Unless you have someone right here you’d rather have with you?”

Niko shook his head. “No, my friends already left. Just me staying behind to talk to you.”

That was really quite flattering. If circumstances were different, Ari would demand details on why a guy like Niko had picked Ari out of the crowd—all the details. Maybe later, while they were waiting for Niko’s turn with a doctor.

“It’s settled, then,” he told Niko with a quick smile. Turning towards the bar, he sought out Kash’s blonde spikes and waved him over. “Yo, Kash!”

“You know Kash?” Niko asked from beside Ari, and Ari looked at him with a raised brow.

“You know Kash?”

“Everyone knows Kash. But yeah, I’m a regular here,” Niko said. “I don’t live far, so.”

“Same. And Kash’s my flatmate.”

“You’re that Ari?” A small grin lit Niko’s eyes. Ari wanted to explore that further, hear what things Kash had told Niko and, if necessary, arrange them into a better picture of himself. But Ari shouldn’t care, should he? Niko was just a potential one-night stand, even if they happened to share Kash’s acquaintance.

Right.

Kash’s bright voice cut into Ari’s thoughts. “Mate, what’s up? Didn’t know you and Niko know each other.”

“We didn’t half an hour ago.” Ari met Kash’s knowing look with an unimpressed stare before he gestured at Niko’s arm. “He needs a bandage. Can you get me your first-aid kit?”

Kash’s gaze slid to Niko’s arm then quickly away again. He paled and nodded, turning without a word to disappear into the back. Niko made a little noise of confusion. “What did I do?”

“Kash’s not good with blood,” Ari supplied. “It’s the one thing that puts him off his food.”

“Oops.” Whatever else Niko might have wanted to say got interrupted when the music was turned back up. Within moments, people were flocking back onto the dancefloor as though nothing had happened. Usually, Ari would be right there with them, but, well. Niko.

They were quiet waiting for Kash to return, no point in trying to have a conversation with the noise raging around them. When Kash brought out the first-aid kit, Ari took over. He cleaned the cut as well as he could while it was still bleeding, then asked Niko to hold the pad in place so Ari could wrap the bandage around it—tight enough to stop the bleeding, but not so tight as to cut off circulation. Throughout, Niko held perfectly still, watching Ari’s fingers work, lids lowered so that his lashes shielded his eyes. The quiet complacency was something Ari saw in his young patients sometimes, the ones who knew him well and trusted him without reservation. Strangely enough, it made Ari want to earn Niko’s trust.

“All done,” he shouted over the music, squeezing Niko’s bicep for a short moment, fingers covering barely half its span. “Let’s grab our jackets and get you checked out by a pro, all right?”

Niko’s response lay in a small smile and a “Thank you” that didn’t carry, but Ari read it in the movement of Niko’s lips.

Fuck, he wanted to taste Niko again, and then again, and then some more. Maybe he’d get another chance later.

After handing the first-aid kit back to Kash, Ari led the way through the crowd, Niko close behind with one hand warm on Ari’s waist. They lost a couple of minutes when retrieving their jackets—or rather, Ari’s jacket and Niko’s posh coat that hugged his body quite enticingly—before they made it outside. The sudden silence was startling, like going underwater during a pool party. Chilly winter air wrapped around them, fog clouding the road and swallowing all but the nearest gleam of Christmas decorations.

“Heard it’s going to snow tonight,” Niko said. One hand wrapped around his injured elbow, he fell into step easily as Ari turned towards the hospital. Ari fought the absurd urge to reach out for Niko—Niko, this literal stranger with a bright smile and legs that went on for miles, who apologised for an injury that wasn’t his fault, who let Ari handle him with quiet ease. If things had gone according to plan, it would have been a quick tumble in the sheets, and that would have been that.

It seemed almost inadequate.

“Real snow?” Ari looked over to take in Niko’s profile, from the clear cut of his nose down to the generous bow of his lips. “Like, the kind that stays and isn’t just slush? Snow-angel snow?”

“They didn’t say. But I haven’t made a snow angel in ages.” A soft smile curved Niko’s mouth. Now that they were out of the noise and didn’t have to shout anymore, Niko’s voice turned out to be deep and a little husky, a slow drawl. Bedroom voice, Ari thought.

It was sheer impulse which prompted him to say, “Can’t have that, obviously. You and me, Niko, we will just have to make the prettiest snow angel Manchester has ever seen. I insist.”

Niko gave a warm laugh that shivered down Ari’s spine. “I’ll hold you to it.”

“You do that,” Ari told him primly. Shoving his hands into the pockets of his jean jacket, he skipped a couple of steps to keep up with Niko’s longer strides and bumped their shoulders together, almost as though they’d been friends for ages.

Still smiling, Niko bumped back. “Hey. Do you think there really are a hundred Eskimo words for snow?”

“Can’t say it’s ever crossed my mind.” Ari pondered the matter. It was a lovely question, one he’d never thought to ask himself before. “I’m sure they have a fair few words, yeah. But a hundred? And it’s not like the English language has only one word, right? We have variations like sleet and powder and so on, too. And it could be argued that our rain is other people’s snow, so that would add the likes of drizzle and downpour to the list.”

“True.” Niko sounded surprised, as though he’d never looked at it like that. The smile he sent Ari was pleased and vaguely searching, and if he felt any pain from his cut, he didn’t appear too bothered.

Maybe he liked when it hurt a little? Maybe he liked it rough rather than sweet, would give up all control and let Ari wreck him? As inappropriate as it was, the idea twisted hot through Ari’s belly. He wasn’t in any immediate hurry to find out the answers, though.

Even if Ari managed to speed up the process, they’d be waiting a while. Ari didn’t mind. He hoped that Niko wouldn’t either. What was that thing about making lemonade from lemons? Take a shitty situation and make it into something happy, wasn’t that what they said?

Niko seemed really and truly lovely.

With the fog dampening all sounds, their steps appeared to echo on the walls of the houses they passed. It might be Ari’s imagination, but he thought they might have slowed down since leaving the club, in no particular hurry to get anywhere. He hoped so.

***

As it turned out, Ari didn’t know anyone on duty at the ER, not even by sight. He considered status-dropping anyway—hi there, I’m one of you, now make my mate your priority—but a quick touch to the back of his hand stopped him.

“It’s okay,” Niko murmured. “I can wait a little.”

Had Ari’s thoughts been this plain to read? Or had Niko been paying close attention? “You sure you don’t mind?” Ari asked, equally quiet, leaning into Niko so the nurse at the registration desk wouldn’t hear. It brought them awfully close, but Ari didn’t move back. Neither did Niko.

“I’m sure,” he said. “It’s fine. I don’t think it’s bleeding anymore with how you bandaged it, and most people here are worse off than me.”

A glance around the room revealed that he had a point; there was one guy, dressed to pull, who was holding a blood-stained bandage to his eye, several cuts on his face. He might have been at the club as well. Stepping away from the reception desk, Ari tugged Niko over to a secluded corner, two plastic chairs next to a wilting Christmas Star—a poinsettia. Ari only knew this because his colleague Finn had insisted on bringing several of them into the paediatric ward as soon as December had hit. And then he’d promptly caught a stomach bug and had thus forced Ari to keep the plants alive in addition to taking over some of Finn’s shifts. If Finn hadn’t sounded so thoroughly miserable on the phone, Ari would hate him.

As it was, he’d texted Finn’s girlfriend to please take good care of him, and she’d replied a minute later with the photo of a shopping basket filled with instant soup, fresh fruit, and tea. Being in a relationship clearly had its advantages; the best Ari could hope for when he was ill was Kash ordering takeaway food for both of them.

Anyway. Not important.

Suppressing a yawn as he slumped into a chair, Ari met Niko’s gaze. “Better settle in, then. This could take a while.”

It appeared Niko had misread Ari’s words, because he sat down a little stiffly. The bleak hospital light washed over him, muting the blue of his eyes to match his careful tone. “You don’t have to wait with me, you know? I mean, it’s your free night, and you probably didn’t plan to spend it hanging out at work with—I mean, we’re mostly still strangers, after all.”

Ari paused for an incremental second before he replied. “I don’t mind. I don’t have anywhere else to be and no work tomorrow. So if you want, we can use the time in a way that makes us more than strangers. How about it?”

“Are you inviting me for a snog in some cleaning cupboard?” Niko’s grin sparked clear and true, and it was only now that Ari realised Niko must have been nervous. It made something in his own stomach tug loose.

“Actually…” He angled himself to jostle Niko’s shoulder, knocking their knees together. “I thought we could play twenty questions. Start out with the boring stuff and move on to the fun questions. Like what do you do when you’re not chatting up strangers in clubs?”

“Currently getting my teaching certificate.” Niko made himself comfortable, stretching out his endless legs that were encased in jeans so tight they might have been sprayed on. “English.”

Ah, okay. Ari adjusted his mental estimate of Niko’s age to mid-twenties, a little younger than Ari himself. He reached out to finger the coat Niko had draped over his lap. The black material, gold embroidery around the lapels and collar, felt as expensive as it looked. “Side job in the fashion industry?” Ari asked. “This looks like it could pay my rent for several months.”

“Good eye,” Niko complimented. “My best mate is a model, and he got me into the rooster for backstage jobs at fashion events. And he gets all this stuff for free, but sometimes he doesn’t want it. Like this coat.”

“Bet it looks better on you anyway.”

“Untrue. Everything looks better on Jair.” Niko didn’t sound upset about it, was stating a fact as simple as the wetness of water. “Wait until you meet him, and you’ll see that I’m right.”

Had Niko just implied that Ari was likely to meet his friends? Possibly. Ari drew one foot up onto the seat and shook his head. His voice came out softer than he’d intended. “Darling, I’ll still think it looks better on you.”

It sounded like a line, but somehow, he found that he meant it. As far as Ari was concerned, Niko himself belonged on the catwalk. He was just… Christ, he was lovely. Spending Friday night chilling in a hospital waiting room hadn’t been part of the plan, but Niko’s injury aside, Ari wouldn’t change a thing.

“Thank you,” Niko said quietly. His smile made Ari just a hint uncomfortable—not necessarily bad, but in a must-have-put-on-the-wrong-skin-size-this-morning kind of way. Quickly, before things could get awkward, he latched onto a different train of thought because, wait. Jair? Jair and Niko? The latter might be a reasonably common name; the first wasn’t. And in that precise combination…

“Does Jair have, like—” Ari made a slashing motion across his left cheek and sent Niko a lopsided grin, batting his lashes as he continued in a dreamy voice. “‘Cheekbones to die for, I fucking swear, and, like, should’ve seen his dark, dark eyes, mate. Like, his whole existence is just unfair, yeah? And he always comes in with this other guy, this Niko person, and I don’t think they’re together, but… mate.’”

It took a confused beat, then Niko laughed. His dimples were out in full force. “Kash? Kash has a crush on Jair? Oh my God, let’s set them up.”

Well, Ari was nothing if not on board with ridiculous schemes, and with the way Kash had described Jair’s personality—in between the near-obsessive mentions of fucking cheekbones—those two just might work together. Also, as Niko’s best mate, Jair had to be good people.

“I like the way your brain works,” Ari told him. “Let’s do this.”

***

Niko hissed at the sting of the disinfectant, but didn’t move his arm from Ari’s grasp.

“Good boy,” Ari said quietly, then felt himself flush at the thick suggestion that had crept into his tone. To counteract it, he followed the praise up with a random question. It was his turn anyway. “If someone handed you one thousand quid on the condition that you spend it within the next twelve hours, what would you buy?”

“Do you want the selfish or not-so-selfish answer?”

“Give me both.” Ari kept his gaze on his fingers, taking gentle care to clean the wound with the material he’d borrowed from the nurse at the reception desk thirty minutes into their wait, when it had become obvious they’d be there for another hour at least. They’d found a bathroom tucked away down the corridor, just the two of them in the small space, and it was odd how they’d been pressed together in the middle of the crowd earlier, yet this, the light brush of Ari’s fingertips over Niko’s skin, felt much more intimate.

Exhaling, Ari took a step back to toss the wipe away. He was pleased to see that no new blood was seeping from the wound.

Unprompted, Niko reached for the sterile pad, held it in place so that Ari could fix it with a new bandage. Niko’s voice was low. “The selfish version would be to buy a dozen really pretty books for myself, like hardcover editions and all, and spend the rest on ridiculously expensive Christmas presents for my family. The selfless version would be to buy a lot of pizza and just go around giving it to homeless people. Although I guess that’s not a very health-conscious offering, is it?”

Ari might be in love. “Your family means who?”

“Mum, sister, stepdad.” Just the mention painted Niko’s words with affection. “And it’s not like I can’t buy them little presents anyway—they support me financially and I do have that side job. But I’d love to go completely overboard with it, you know? Two-hundred on a concert ticket for my sister, five hundred on a wellness weekend for my mum and Robin.”

Ari nodded. He didn’t look at Niko’s face as he fastened the bandage around his arm, speaking quietly. “Yeah, I know. That’s what I’d do with a thousand quid, I think—buy ridiculous stuff for my siblings. Or take them all to Disneyland in Paris.”

“How many are there?” Just like earlier, Niko held perfectly still as Ari worked. They were close enough that Ari felt Niko’s breath as a warm rush of air on his cheek.

“Five,” Ari replied. “The two little ones are still babies, but I grew up with the other three, all girls. And my mum was alone with us for a long time, so we tended to be short on cash. It’s better now that she married a guy who’s actually decent.”

Niko whistled softly. “Five siblings? I’m somehow not surprised you ended up working in the paediatric wing.”

A paediatric nurse and a teacher. It occurred to Ari how ridiculously well that would fit—what a cliché. What a nice cliché. For just an instant, he was struck by how easy it might be to fall into a life where time was defined by before Niko, and with him. 

Christ, he was getting ahead of himself here. He wasn’t looking for a boyfriend, not specifically; sure, he wasn’t opposed to the idea, but he just hadn’t had clicked with anyone in a good long while so it had been simmering on the backburner. Seemed that all it took was a one-night stand gone off-kilter to set the idea on fire. 

Or maybe it was all Niko.

Niko, right. Niko, who was bright and gorgeous and lovely but certainly hadn’t been interested in more than a shag when he’d chatted Ari up at the bar. Ari might do well to remember that before he tripped over his own two feet in his haste to go places.

“Favourite song?” Niko asked at that precise moment.

“Favourite song?” Ari repeated. “Favourite song? Is that the best question you’ve got for me? C’mon, you can do better than that.” After securing the bandage, he shuffled back to lean his hip against the sink and gave Niko a challenging look. He regretted it as soon as Niko countered with a lazy quirk of the lips.

“Well, I’d have asked about your favourite position, but that seemed a bit forward.”

Play it cool, play it cool. You were dry-humping him just an hour ago, now keep it steady.

“I don’t care about the fucking position. Pun fully intended, by the way.” Ari felt the corners of his mouth twitch at Niko’s sudden, hyena-sharp cackle. It was a sound wholly unexpected from someone so slow-spoken and only heightened Ari’s desire to know him better—all of him.

He kept his hands loosely by his side as he continued, gaze steady. “It’s all about the way two people fit, don’t you think? I’m versatile, myself. As long as everyone’s enjoying it, who cares if it’s from the top or bottom or from behind, or the whole damn Kamasutra on the bathroom floor.” That earned him a flicker of Niko’s focus—first to the floor tiles, then to the mirror behind Ari. Ha. Waiting until Niko’s gaze slid back to him, Ari aimed for a pleasant smile. “That said, I like to take control on occasion.”

The harsh light made the flush to Niko’s cheeks deliciously obvious, his lips parted. His T-shirt was gaping open to grant a generous glimpse of his collarbones and the smooth expanse of his chest. The contrast between his pale skin and the dark ink of tattoos scattered down his left arm was starkly obvious. Ari wanted to explore them with his hands and teeth.

It wouldn’t take more than a small shift of their bodies to close the gap.

Ari almost did. He was a heartbeat away, teetering on the edge of movement. In his mind, it was all so very clear: he’d lean in just as Niko did so they’d meet in the middle, open mouths and greedy hands, and then… And then what? They’d bang into one of the stalls for a quick fumble, forced to keep it quiet, and afterwards, they’d traipse back out. They’d wait for Niko to get his stitches done in mildly awkward silence, suddenly uncertain how to interact. 

And then they’d go their separate ways. Meet again by chance, maybe, or not. 

No. No fucking way. They’d convened an elaborate plan to set up their best mates; that shit couldn’t just be forgotten. 

Turning away, Ari busied himself with putting the kit back into order. He could hear Niko draw a slow breath, loud in the stillness of the room. To end it, Ari asked the first question that sprung to his mind. “What’s your favourite Disney princess, and why?”

It took a moment, then Niko exhaled a laugh. “Okay, that’s… not what I expected.”

Ari dared glance up long enough for a dry grin. “I am nothing if not unpredictable.”

“Yeah, I’m beginning to see that. I like it.” Niko went on before Ari had a chance to read too much into the comment. “Think it’d have to be Belle. Because she’s clever, and she loves to read. And she dreams about adventures.”

And just like that, the atmosphere relaxed, as easy as flicking a switch. Tucking the box under one arm, Ari straightened and fully looked at Niko. “Funny, I’d have pegged you more for the Little Mermaid type.”

“Why? Because I’m no good with my feet on the ground?” Niko seemed genuinely interested, a smile dancing around the corners of his eyes.

“Because of your curious nature and your flowing locks, obviously,” Ari told him. “I didn’t know you were clumsy. Are you?” He moved towards the exit, and Niko was quick to skip ahead and hold the door for him. Well, would you look at that: chivalry was alive and kicking.

“I’m a bit clumsy, yeah.” Niko didn’t sound upset about it, instead appeared to be wholly comfortable with himself, and it was yet another thing to like about him. Maybe Ari should start a list.

Leading the way back to the waiting room, it took mere moments for Niko and his long legs to catch up. “My turn,” Niko announced.

Ari grinned over at him. “Better make it count.”

Niko grinned back. “Trust me, I intend to. So.” His gaze resting on Ari, he followed it up with a pause, teasing Ari with a hint of dimples. “Okay. Which Hogwarts House is your best fit, why, and would you rather belong to a different one?”

Was it too early to ask for Niko’s hand in marriage? Probably; that kind of shit was better left to date five or so.

Ari settled for pondering an answer that would be truthful yet also impressive, all while serving to endear him to Niko—an ambitious combination, yes, but Ari was on a mission. Dressed to impress, or whatever. After all, good boys didn’t come to those who sat on their lazy arses all day, and Ari had always enjoyed a good challenge.

***

Two hours in, they were still waiting.

It had seemed like Niko’s turn a while ago, but then three ambulances had arrived at once, the flash of blue lights clear outside the window, followed by a flutter of activity as stretchers had been wheeled past. Friday night car accident, most likely. While Ari had grown used to seeing the fallout of things like that, Niko had curled into himself a little, and there’d been no ulterior motive to it when Ari had draped an arm around his shoulder and asked him a particularly ridiculous question. Niko had leaned into him gratefully, steadying himself with one hand on Ari’s thigh, and that was how they’d stayed.

“One song to describe your coming-out experience?” Ari asked now.

Niko pursed his lips in thought. “There’s three. One for my family, one for school, and one for when I started uni. Trade you one of mine for one of yours?”

Usually, it would take Ari weeks to delve into the mess that was his coming-out experience. He made friends quickly and easily, but good friends he made slowly, inch by careful inch. There was something about Niko, though, and even though they were in the place where Ari spent a good part of his waking hours, this night seemed removed from the real world. 

It was why he nodded without hesitation. “Fair enough. After you.”

Across the room, a teenage girl was whimpering, holding her arm close to her body as her friends crowded around her. Niko shot her a sympathetic look before his focus returned to Ari. “Okay, this is probably lame, but for the family one, it’s Sister Sledge with We Are Family for me. Unconditional support and love.” He hummed a few bars, eyes soft, and Ari’s mind supplied the lyrics: We are family, get up everybody and sing. Everyone can see we’re together. It sparked a sweet ache in Ari’s chest.

“Nothing lame about that,” he said quietly. For just a moment, he allowed himself to touch the back of Niko’s hand, still a warm weight on his thigh, before he withdrew. He didn’t want to come on too strong, risk scaring Niko away before this thing had a chance to unfold. “It’s great they were so supportive. Happy for you, dude.”

Dude. Dude. What the fuck? Apparently, Ari’s brain had translated ‘don’t come on too strong’ into some ridiculous platonic bro pal vocabulary. Cheers.

Niko was silent for a beat, then asked, “Yours weren’t supportive? Because the way you were talking about your mum and your siblings, I thought…”

“They were. It’s just my stepdad at the time who was… complicated.” Shifting on the uncomfortable chair, Ari slouched a little more, but kept his arm around Niko’s shoulders. He met Niko’s eyes when he continued. “I came out my final year of school, and it wasn’t a smooth ride. Captain of the football team isn’t supposed to be gay, right? Except I was, and I ignored it for a while, even kissed a few girls, dated around to fit the norm. Had a girlfriend for a year, until I realised I had more fun watching her try on clothes than taking them off. I’d always been loud, loud and loud, and when I got tired of pretending, I was still loud, but now it was coupled with white trousers and suspenders, talking about how bloody fit Ronaldo was. Go big or go home, yeah?”

“How did people take it? At school, I mean.”

“Mixed batch of reactions. As expected.” Quite suddenly, Ari grinned. “Let’s go with Gloria Gaynor here, yeah? I Am What I Am. Take me or leave me, give me the hook or the ovation—that was me and my attitude. Still is, really. I’m just not quite as obnoxious about it anymore.”

Niko’s whole face brightened. “Oh, I like that song. It’s so positive. Or maybe more… affirmative, I guess.”

“Yeah, that.” Grin fading, Ari cleared his throat and looked away. He caught a curious glance from one of the girls clustered around the teenager with the injured arm, and it made him wonder what he and Niko looked like to a stranger. Like a couple? It would be a reasonable assumption with how Ari’s arm was draped around Niko’s shoulders, Niko tucked into Ari’s side, a hand on Ari’s thigh.

Ari wanted that. He wanted that a lot.

“Hey,” Niko said, gently prodding, and Ari turned back to him. “You okay? You went a bit tense.”

“Just thinking.” Ari forced himself to relax. “As I was saying, my mum and sisters were great. The babies weren’t born yet; they’re from my new stepdad.” He allowed a moment for Niko to process the information. “Anyway, my then-stepfather was not a fan. Guess a loud and proudly gay stepson wasn’t what he’d signed up for, and there was a time when life at home was just… not fun. If I wasn’t the one fighting with him, it was my mum and him.”

Niko didn’t comment, but he lifted his hand off Ari’s leg to instead wrap an arm around Ari’s waist and tug him closer. They shouldn’t fit, not with the way Niko was long and lean while Ari was smaller and… Well, he was slim, right, what with the combination of regular football practice and a job that kept him on his feet. But compared to Niko, there were curves in certain places, such as his bum. Not that he was shy about that particular asset. 

Asset, heh. 

Okay, that was probably too bad to share out loud—although Niko seemed to appreciate a pun or two. How would Ari even explain the thought process which had led him down that road, though?

He’d also had a point. The point was: they shouldn’t fit, but somehow, they did.

Inhaling deeply, Ari focused on the spicy citrus note of Niko’s aftershave rather than the typical smell of disinfectants. In an undertone, he picked up where he’d left off. “Things had been strained before, mind, but me coming out made them ten times worse. I listened a lot to Married With Children at the time, so let’s go with that. Like, the part about how he doesn’t think the other’s very clever, and he hates her music and sarcasm, the way she takes pride in stupid shit… I know it’s about a married couple, but this was so my stepdad and me. And the rest fit him and my mum, that he hated it all, everything she did, but couldn’t quite leave either.”

“I’m really sorry.” Niko’s voice was lowered to a gentle murmur, matching the quietness of Ari’s words. Around them, the hospital was a bustle of voices and activity, yet Ari hardly registered it. Even in the joyless illumination, Niko’s eyes were blue like the sky in spring, blue like a Sapphire Martini or Ari’s favourite teacup, the one Kash had broken a month ago and had yet to replace.

Christ, what. Ari wasn’t even drunk.

“It turned out okay in the end.” He worked up a smile, and when Niko returned it, Ari’s own grew. “As I said, they’d been unhappy for a bit, and me coming out was just the final straw. They split up a few months after. Not a good time for anyone involved, but my mum’s new husband is really nice. And my old stepdad settled with a new family and is probably happier for it too.”

“You keep in touch?”

“Loosely. He’s the closest thing to a father I have.”

“What about your real dad? Your biological one, I mean.” Niko’s voice was calm and sweet, his curious eyes focused on Ari’s face. The moment felt strangely weightless, and Ari wondered whether the vague buzz in his chest was a result of tiredness or whether it was Niko’s presence, the way Niko paid intense attention as though right now, Ari was the most important person in the world.

“My biological dad” —Ari cleared his throat and glanced down— “is a piece of shit who ditched his wife and child a couple of weeks after the latter was born.”

“I’m sorry,” Niko said, yet again. Fuck, this conversation really had taken a turn for the depressing. It wasn’t what Ari had intended at all, so he took a deep breath and shifted into Niko. Their faces were close, dizzy inches between them, but Ari didn’t move away. Neither did Niko.

“Don’t be,” Ari replied quietly. “Good riddance, you know? My mum’s brilliant, so that more than makes up for it.”

“Good,” Niko whispered back. His breath was warm on Ari’s skin.

It would be so, so easy to kiss him. Ari was certain that Niko would kiss back just like he had in the club, open mouths and the curious touch of their tongues, Ari’s fingers twisted into Niko’s hair. It would be so very easy.

But it wouldn’t be enough. Not anymore. Because somewhere between stepping out into the quiet night and sitting right here, huddled close together, things had changed. At least for Ari.

God, he hoped he wasn’t alone in this.

He sat up a little straighter—not much, just enough for their closeness to be less of a distraction. “You owe me a song,” he told Niko.

Confusion clouded Niko’s expression for a moment, then it cleared. His voice seemed slightly rougher than before. “Right. Yeah. Coming out at school. I couldn’t have done it without some friends, you know? Knowing they had my back all the way, that was so important. Jair was one of them, by the way.”

“You’re childhood friends?”

“Since he moved to my tiny town with his family just before starting primary school. Some kids teased him about his skin colour ’cause he’s part Pakistani, and where we grew up, that wasn’t really—it’s a pretty white place, see. And I could tell he was sad, so I offered to share my banana with him and told him he was very pretty.” Niko’s words were laced with easy warmth, and fuck, Ari fancied him something awful. The mere thought of wee little Niko comforting a strange boy with fruit and compliments was too precious to handle. Ari wanted to gently kick a puppy or spit at a rainbow or something, to provide a counterweight to the aching sweetness behind his ribs.

“You’re so lovely,” he said before he could rope the words back in, swallow them down.

“Hey, I got a best mate out of it.” Niko gave a miniature shrug that didn’t dislodge the arm Ari had curled around his shoulder. “Anyway, so knowing that people like Jair would be there to catch me when I came out was so important. So I’ll go with With A Little Help From My Friends for that song.”

“Cute,” Ari told him. “But Jair’s not straight either, is he? Kash’s got skills, but turning a straight man isn’t one of them.”

“Bi. Just took him a while to figure out.” Niko’s smile came with a faint quirk. “He’s Muslim, you know, and accepting me was one thing, that was easy for him, but accepting himself was harder.”

“Guess it’s also easier to lie to yourself when you’re bi.”

“Guess so. Never been an option for me.”

Ari raised his brows. “Really, never? Never been tempted, never told yourself it was just a phase?”

“I slept with a girl once, and it just… It was fine. It was okay. But it wasn’t close to what I’d expected, nothing like that mythical thing the other boys were all looking forward to.” That implied Niko had lost his virginity sooner than most of his peers. Ari wasn’t surprised; Niko must have been a charming bastard even a decade ago. “And then I guess it was just fairly easy for me. I always knew my mum would accept and love me the same. And my sister too. She’s a sassy shit, but as far as she’s concerned, she’s the only one who’s allowed to mess with me.”

“Valid attitude. I’m the same with my siblings.”

“Yeah.” Niko stretched the word out like a rubber band. “I can see that. You know, I think you and Debbie would get along well.”

Was that—had Niko just—? No, no, it had been a casual comment, perfectly innocent. Ari shouldn’t read anything into it. People who’d met a mere few hours ago didn’t already insinuate things about meeting each other’s families; that just didn’t happen. He shook the thought off.

“This Is The Beginning by Boy,” he said quickly. “‘This is the beginning of anything you want.’” It came out a hint too rushed, and Ari realised just how abrupt a change of topic it had been when Niko blinked, frowning. Ari clarified. “My starting-university-leaving-home-moving-to-the-big-city song. The song’s quite hopeful and optimistic, but a little wistful as well. Captures how I felt.”

“Oh, right.” After a small pause, Niko grinned, deep dimples poking into his cheeks. “I’ll go with Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.”

It drew a laugh from Ari. “Should I pretend to be surprised?”

“Hey, I’m not, like, shallow. And I wouldn’t pick it to describe my life now, but back then? Told you I come from a tiny town, so moving to Manchester… It was like I could breathe for the first time.” Niko sounded adorably serious about his explanation, a steep line between his brows. “Can’t blame me for wanting to taste my newfound freedom, right?”

Ari knocked their knees together. “Not blaming you at all. Honestly, I was quite the same. Canal Street was my regular haunt for a while.”

But somewhere along the line, it had changed for Ari. Oh, he still partied, still spent the occasional night with a stranger, just… not very often anymore. Work had taken its toll, and being surrounded by children all day only confirmed that he wanted some of his own, preferably before he was too old and grey to keep up with them.

Had it changed for Niko as well? Maybe. He’d said the song no longer described him. Still, it would be a bad idea to ask how he felt about children. A monumentally bad idea. Niko studying to become a teacher was insufficient justification to bring up potential family plans, and Ari’s brain would do well to remember that.

“Big spoon or little spoon?” he demanded instead.

“I don’t think it’s your turn, is it?” For all that Niko had to know it was indeed not Ari’s turn, he made it into a question. A lot of his statements came out like that—tentative, coupled with ‘I think’ or ‘I guess’ or ‘kind of.’ It contrasted with the easy confidence Niko radiated and led Ari to believe Niko wasn’t afraid of voicing strong convictions, but preferred to save his arguments for things that truly mattered. God, how could Ari like him so much already, after such a short time of knowing him?

“Beg to differ,” Ari announced. “We both named our songs, so my turn was neutralised and I’m still very much in charge of the next question.”

“You’re used to getting your way, aren’t you?” Niko’s eyes were bright, crow’s feet blooming at the corners. From up close, it was breathtaking—and Jesus fucking Christ, Niko really had done a number on Ari. Thinking in romance novel terms? Please.

“I work with kids all day, Niko.” Subtly, Ari shifted so that he wasn’t leaning into Niko quite so heavily. Maybe his brain would get the message. “I mean, four-year-olds, they bring out the big guns, right? But they can’t beat me. I am the king of the circular argument, so don’t even try. So. Big spoon or little spoon?”

Niko’s gaze darted around the room, pausing on a little boy huddled into himself on his father’s lap. They’d come in about fifteen minutes ago, and the occasional, dry coughs wracking the boy’s body had Ari suspect an acute bronchitis. Poor thing.

When Niko focused back on Ari, it took a moment for his frown to fade. Then he smiled—slow and deceptively sweet. “Little spoon. Definitely little spoon. I like to be all tucked in, even if I have to make myself small to fit.”

Fuck, images. Ari inhaled deeply, and amusement twitched around Niko’s mouth. Oh, that little shit knew exactly what he was doing.

“Personally,” Ari told him, “I prefer to be the big spoon. Like to make someone else feel safe and sound, you know?”

“Yeah?” It was almost too low to be a question, Niko’s gaze intent. Ari stared back, holding his breath because this, this. Niko and he. Together they could burn as bright as the sun. Surely Ari wasn’t alone in thinking that—or was he?

“Niko Davies?” someone called.

They both flinched.

Niko was first to look away. His arm dropped from where it had been curled around Ari’s waist, and he waited until Ari let him go, then rose from the chair to join the nurse who’d called him. She appeared in a hurry to leave.

For a beat, Ari stayed right where he was. Then he got to his feet as well, approached just in time to catch Niko’s, “—switch with them? I don’t mind. I think they need to see a doctor more urgently than I do.” He pointed his thumb at the miserable boy, and… oh. In spite of it being well past midnight, in spite of having spent more than two hours waiting for his turn, Niko wanted to trade places with a sad, little boy.

Please, please marry me.

Ari lingered on the fringe, watching as the boy’s father nearly tripped over himself thanking Niko for the kindness. Only when the nurse had left with father and son did Niko turn to look at Ari, beaming. Something in Ari’s expression must give him pause, though, because when he spoke, it was with a note of caution.

“Hey, you don’t have to wait, you know? Please don’t feel obliged.”

It appeared Niko had misinterpreted Ari’s desperate attempt to hide just how stupidly, embarrassingly fond he already was of this boy. Smiling, Ari shook his head. “Would you kindly stop trying to get rid of me? Please, and thank you.” He paused for a moment, then added in a softer tone, “That was a really nice thing you just did. Really nice.”

Niko’s smile was wide. When Ari led the way back to their corner, Niko followed right away, and they rearranged themselves into their previous position as though it was the most natural thing in the world. Ari struggled to remember that it wasn’t.

***

“Ari.” A whisper, then a gentle nudge to his shoulder. “Hey. Wake up?”

Ari startled upright with a gasp—and found himself staring at Niko, a hand’s width between them. He blinked and slumped back on his seat, rubbing a hand over his hair. If there was one thing on-call duty had taught him, it was to go from sleeping to alert in five seconds flat.

Niko’s arm was still wrapped around Ari’s waist, steadying. Unless Ari was very much mistaken, he’d slept with his head on Niko’s shoulder. He couldn’t even remember when he’d drifted off, just that at some point, he had gone up to the pediatric wing to fetch tea for both of them. After that, their conversation had slowed to a drip of words, and then he’d meant to close his eyes for just a second, lids so very heavy.

Christ, awesome. A+ impression, that.

“I’m so fucking sorry.” He shook his head to get rid of the cobwebs. “Didn’t mean to—shit. I was supposed to keep you company.”

“But you did. You were only asleep for, like, ten minutes or so.” Niko unwound himself and got up, glancing at the nurse who was waiting with thinly veiled impatience. After a moment of gathering his ability to function, Ari clambered to his feet as well.

“Want me to come in with you?”

Niko bit his lip, hesitating. “If you don’t mind?”

“Not at all.” Honestly, Ari would have tried to sweet-talk his way in otherwise; he might not be allowed to give stitches, but he’d watched the process often enough to tell a good job from sloppy work. They better treat Niko right in there.

They were quiet as they trailed the nurse into an examination room, and Ari could tell Niko’s energy was beginning to lag as well—fighting a yawn, exhaustion was clear in how he carried himself. Ari wanted to fall asleep wrapped all around him.

Not tonight, though. They deserved a real date.

God, Ari hadn’t been on an actual date in a year. Two, maybe. He’d need to ask Finn for advice. Would he have to borrow a car to pick Niko up? But no, seriously, who even drove a car in the city? Also, Ari was getting way, way ahead of himself. He had yet to establish whether Niko was open to anything beyond a fun night.

The doctor who rose to welcome them was young—tasteful make-up, dark brown hair falling in loose waves down her shoulders. Ari had seen her around the hospital a few times, and he peered at the nametag as she shook Niko’s hand. Caroline, right.

When she turned to him, Ari saw recognition spark in her eyes. He mirrored her smile with a shrug. “Don’t mind me. I’m only here as a—” A friend? Not exactly. And he wanted Niko to be more than that anyway. “Private capacity. Just here to keep Niko company.”

Caroline’s gaze flicked from Ari to Niko, and back. “Well, darling, seems you already did a good job bandaging him up, and I could use some extra help since we’re short-staffed. You want to assist?”

Ari glanced at Niko and found him grinning. That settled it, then.

“Absolutely,” Ari said.

***

Niko was relaxed throughout the process, holding himself still and watching Caroline work with alert eyes. There was really no need for Ari to trap his arm. He did so anyway, fingers loosely clasped around Niko’s forearm. It was all very professional.

Halfway through, Caroline remarked on Niko’s pain tolerance. It earned her a little smirk, Niko’s voice a hint rougher than before. “I do have a few tattoos already, so needles don’t scare me. I don’t mind a bit of pain.”

What the fuck.

Ari kept his gaze strictly focused on Caroline’s work, but even so, he felt his cheeks heat. Niko had probably done that on purpose, the bastard. Might have been payback for that moment earlier in the bathroom, when Ari had talked about taking control.

Ari hadn’t been kidding about that. He didn’t think Niko was kidding about having a mild pain kink either.

Fuck everything.

***

The winter air outside worked like a dousing of ice water, momentarily robbing Ari’s breath, a portion of his tiredness flushing away. Each exhalation billowed out in a cloud. Niko may have been right when he’d said it would snow tonight.

Christ, had that really been just four hours ago? Had there been a time when the deep rumble of Niko’s voice had been anything but deeply familiar? What a cold and empty period of Ari’s life.

He zipped up his jacket against the cold air sneaking underneath his clothes. Next to him, Niko was taking longer to button up his coat, his slender fingers pale against the black material. There were three dozen things Ari wanted those fingers to do to him. By his last, rough estimate.

Dragging his gaze away, he cleared his throat. His words fogged up the air. “Walk you home? You said you live nearby, right?”

“Some five minutes. And yes, that’d be nice.” Niko’s smile was this small, timid thing, and Ari didn’t know how to respond. Anything his tired mind could come up with right now was too much, too soon.

But hey, maybe he could… Caroline had sent them off with instructions for Ari to remove the stitches a week from now, and that was a good place to start, wasn’t it? A way to casually test the water and see whether Niko might want to make this into more than a one-night acquaintance. Ari was cautiously optimistic about his chances.

Niko’s slow drawl beat him to the point. “I’m sorry for ruining your night, kind of. Bet you had better things to do than hang out in the ER.”

“I’m not sorry,” Ari told him, then reconsidered that. “No, I mean, I’m sorry you got hurt. But talking to you, that was nice. I liked getting to know you.”

“I’m glad. And same.” Niko still sounded a hint uncertain, gaze resting on Ari’s face for a long moment. Fuck, Ari wanted to kiss him very, very much—and it wasn’t as though he doubted Niko would be receptive. He just wanted to know where they stood first because, really, there was nothing quite like the awkwardness of finding out after the fact that you had been on the same page, sure, but in a very different book. Been there, done that, felt like a shitty person when the other guy had rushed out, clearly hurt.

Ari didn’t want to find himself on the other side of the equation. He didn’t want to be that guy.

He started walking, and Niko fell into step just like he’d done all night. They didn’t speak much on the way, just Niko giving the occasional direction, or Ari remarking on a particularly garish piece of Christmas decoration which Niko then defended as ‘quaint’ or ‘silly, but kind of cute.’ The earlier fog had mostly dissipated, leaving the air crisp and clear. As tired as he was, Ari couldn’t stop smiling, and each time he glanced over, Niko met his eyes and smiled back.

They arrived far too soon. Niko’s building was old, part of a row of Gothic-style houses, and it would have appeared stately had it not been for traces of decay that the night didn’t quite cloak. The windows were probably drafty, and Niko needed to huddle under thick covers to keep warm. Ari would not be opposed to helping out with that. Say, by wrapping Niko up and holding him close, or by offering his own bed as a permanent alternative.

Okay, simmer the fuck down.  

“So, um.” Both hands in the pockets of his coat, Niko drew to a halt in front of the door. He was slightly bow-legged; how had Ari not noticed it before? Even that seemed adorable. “Do you want to, like, come up?”

Come up. Did Ari want to come up?

Yes. Hell yes. But also no. Because they had yet to clarify what book they were reading. What if Niko had only asked him up for a quick shag, or a thank-you blowjob, and that would be it?

Ari inhaled on a quick breath. “I’m not sure that’d be a good idea.”

“Right.” Niko’s expression shuttered. He gave a single, stiff shrug, already turning away. His voice was low and indifferent. “Okay, so I guess I’ll see you at the bar or something. Thanks for the company tonight.”

Wait, what? So this was goodbye, just like that? 

Okay, that was Ari’s answer right there, in the firm set of Niko’s shoulders and in how quick he was to dismiss the hours they’d spent together. No sex? Piss off, then.

Fine. Fine.

“I guess so,” Ari echoed, a little stiffly. “Have a good night and all. See you.”

I was supposed to take out your stitches.  

He didn’t say that. There was no fucking point, was there? Stuffing his hands into the pockets of his jeans, he turned away, set off without so much as another look at Niko. Seriously, fuck blue eyes and a mess of unruly hair and full lips and long, long legs, just fuck it all. So Ari had made a real fool of himself; what else was new? It had been all in his head, yeah, that was cool. Whatever.

Over the thudding of his own pulse, he almost didn’t catch Niko’s soft, near-whispered, “Bye, Ari.”

It didn’t mean anything. Nothing meant anything. 

Or did it? Another step, another, about to turn a corner.

Ari stopped abruptly.

Okay.

Okay, wait.

Was there a chance that—right, okay, he’d thought he’d made a fool of himself, but at what point had he actually told Niko that one night wouldn’t be enough? Because he hadn’t. And sure, he’d been plenty obvious about his crush, must have been. But if Niko was just as uncertain about his footing as Ari was… 

What if Niko had mistaken Ari’s words for a rejection?

Niko had been nothing but sweet and open all night. Christ, he’d even helped a little boy see a doctor more quickly at the cost of having to wait an additional hour himself. It seemed completely out of character for Niko to dismiss Ari with a shrug and a so long, then. Completely, totally out of character. Fuck.

Ari turned on his heel. A few houses down, Niko was facing away as he fumbled with the door. His head was ducked, shoulders down.

“Niko!” Ari called. On the quiet road, it was louder than he’d intended, bouncing off the walls. Niko’s head shot up just as Ari took a step towards him.

“Look, here’s the thing,” Ari said—softer, but still loud enough to carry. “The reason I don’t want to come up is because we’re both tired, and it’s half past two, and you just got stitched up. And also, importantly, because I want more than just one night from you.”

Niko was watching him, completely still, one hand on the door handle, the other holding the keys. The orange-tinted light of the streetlamps swallowed the blue of his irises. He didn’t move when Ari drew close, and maybe… yes, there was the beginning of an upwards tilt to Niko’s lips.

A smile, so small it barely registered.

It was all the encouragement Ari needed to step into Niko’s space, touch his waist and finish with, “I want to see you again. And I want it to be a proper date if there are no objections from your side. I want to make snow angels. And think up ridiculous schemes to set Jair and Kash up, and make you tea when you’re stressing over finals or whatever.”

“That sounds… yes? Please.” Niko’s voice was the velvet shade of secrets. He let go of the door to cover Ari’s hand with his own, fingers tangling over the material of his coat. When his smile emerged, a trace of caution still lingered in the curve of it. “I thought maybe, you know? Like, I wanted that—want that. But you kept pulling back whenever I got too close.”

“I did not,” Ari protested. “I would never.”

“But you did.” Niko scrunched up his nose, and that, too, was adorable. Jesus, Ari was fucked. He shuffled closer, the tips of their shoes touching, and reviewed his behaviour at the hospital. Right, okay, there was that moment in the bathroom when Ari had stepped back instead of snogging Niko senseless, but there’d been reasons for that. Same when he’d changed topics quite abruptly or shifted away because all he wanted was to be closer.

Okay, fine. Ari was starting to see how that could have come across.

“Not because you got too close,” he corrected quietly. “That wasn’t it. When I was tempted to move too fast, that’s when I pulled back. Because this started out pretty firmly on the side of a one-night stand, but then it shifted for me and I couldn’t be sure it was the same for you.”

Niko’s smile grew, became wide and real. “I thought I’d been pretty obvious.”

“Well, same. What a pair of idiots we make.” A pair. Had that been too much? Oh, sod it. Ari smiled back. Having to tilt his face up to meet Niko’s eyes was kind of a turn-on. “So when you invited me up just now, you really had no ulterior motives?”

“Was planning to offer you a cuppa ’cause you looked a bit cold. Didn’t quite want to let you go just yet, you know?” Niko paused, mischief tucked into the corners of his eyes. “But, I mean, maybe I did angle for a kiss or two.”

“Tempting.” There was a very real, very immediate possibility that Ari would never stop grinning. He wasn’t too bothered. “However, I’m afraid I’ll have to decline. I wasn’t kidding about wanting to do this proper. Never had cause or inclination to woo someone, but I’m all set to give it my best try.”

Niko shifted to lean back against the door, pulling Ari into his warmth. His voice dipped low. “But who says you get to do the wooing?”

“I’m older and thus wiser, and I’m the big spoon to your little one. End of discussion.”

With that, Ari rose onto his tiptoes to steal a soft, close-mouthed kiss from Niko—right there, pressed up against the door to Niko’s building, the cold winter night swirling around them. Niko’s left hand, the one not laced with Ari’s, found its way under Ari’s jacket, curled against the small of his back. He was still clutching his keys, and the metal was icy through the material of Ari’s shirt.

When they separated, Niko exhaled around a gentle laugh. It ghosted warm across Ari’s cheek.

“What?” Ari asked.

Niko shook his head. “Nothing. It’s silly.”

“I like silly. C’mon, tell me. I won’t laugh.”

“I just thought, okay, what if it had started snowing just when we kissed? That’d have been magical, yeah?”

Yeah, so Ari was about two thirds in love with him.

“That is utterly ridiculous,” he announced. While he aimed for a dry tone, the effect was likely spoiled by how he couldn’t hide his delight. “Just for that, I shall refrain from bidding you a very good night. I also refuse to wish you dreams that are as sweet as your lovely self.”

He freed himself, stepping back, but at the sight of Niko’s disappointed frown, he couldn’t resist darting in for another kiss. By the time Ari tore himself away, Niko was beaming, and Ari suspected the previous show of disgruntlement might have been a ploy. That was okay, though. There were worse things than being tricked into kissing Niko.

“Okay, babe, let’s talk shop.” Ari crossed his arms and fixed Niko with a hard look. “What are your pre-existing plans for tomorrow night and, more importantly, can you cancel them?”

“I work an event until seven, was going to have drinks with a few mates after.” Niko twitched his shoulders, smiling, smiling. It was contagious. “They’ll forgive me if I don’t show.”

Perfect. In theory, Ari himself had planned a trip to the movies with Finn, but there was nothing in particular they wanted to watch, and Finn’s state made it unlikely anyway. So, Ari was free as a bird. And even if he slept in, tomorrow night would leave him with plenty of time to figure out the whole wooing thing. Some fancy restaurant? Ari wasn’t rich, but at this point, he could afford to splurge on a special night. Or was he himself supposed to cook? Better not; he didn’t want to scare Niko off or send him on yet another ER visit due to food poisoning.

How the hell did one woo a person? Ari was one-hundred percent going to enlist Kash and Finn for this.

“I’ll pick you up at eight,” he told Niko.

Niko nodded, then made grabby hands, trying to rope Ari into yet another kiss.

Ari evaded him with a laugh. “Stop that. Don’t tempt me. I need sleep so I can be well-rested for our date tomorrow. Wouldn’t want to disappoint.”

“You couldn’t,” Niko said, sweetly serious all of a sudden. Maybe he’d caught the glimmer of self-doubt in Ari’s voice. “I mean, tonight was pretty much disastrous if you look just at the hard facts, right? Still the best date I’ve been on in… possibly ever.”

Ari shook his head, but really, it was true. He couldn’t agree more. “This wasn’t a date,” he told Niko. “Your standards must be appallingly low, sweetheart.”

“Or maybe it doesn’t matter what we do because I just really, really like you a lot?” As soon as it was out, Niko looked vaguely uncomfortable, as though he wanted to take it back.

I really, really like you a lot.  

“Me too,” Ari said quickly, almost tripping over the words. He didn’t want Niko to regret his admission, didn’t want that at all. “Same, okay? I like you so much, and for the record, tonight was the best date I’ve ever had as well. Hands down. And it wasn’t even a date.”

All discomfort was wiped clean off Niko’s face. “Yeah?”

“Yes,” Ari said decisively. “But tomorrow night will be an actual date, and it’ll be even better. So eight sharp, right here?”

“Looking forward to it,” Niko told him, soft and genuine. Since Ari had self-restraint, he didn’t move in again.

Instead, he stepped back and raised his hand for a crooked wave. Niko imitated it, and for several seconds, they simply stood grinning at each other before Ari made himself turn away.

“Goodnight,” he called over his shoulder. Niko echoed it, followed by a, “See you tomorrow,” that sounded so happy that Ari whirled around and skipped back for another kiss. His blood felt bubbly, like champagne cursing through his veins, and while that sounded dangerous from a medical viewpoint, he couldn’t care less at this very moment.

It was another few minutes before Ari finally, finally worked up the resolve to leave. He glanced back over his shoulder just once and found Niko still rooted to the spot, lovely under the glow of the streetlights and watching Ari with a small smile.

Tomorrow couldn’t come fast enough.

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Thank you for your time and attention! I hope you enjoyed it. 🙂