r(y)-r(y)

Your husband’s devilishly handsome face supported a look of surprise, reminiscent of a bunny caught nibbling on the garden plants. His actions of cutting his beard had stopped in the air, his lips were parted, while his blue eyes were wide behind his skewed glasses, showing just how you had startled him with your sudden burst into the bathroom.

“Darling, what’s wrong?” Ryland inquired, clearly worried as to what had caused such a sudden entrance.

Instead of an answer to his question, it was a low whistle that had made its way to his ears, as he watched a smirk creep up your lips, as you crossed your arm in front of your chest, leaning against the frame of the door.

“Hey, handsome,” you called, a flirtatious tone coating your words.

“What are you doing here all alone?....dressed like this?” you questioned, your voice trailing off as your eyes slowly scanned down his body, checking out the temptatious view, before locking back on to his.

“Honey, what happened?” Ryland questioned again, despite picking up on your flirtatious tone, he was still worried as to the reason why you had suddenly stormed inside the bathroom. He put the razor down on the counter, turning to your direction to give you his full attention.

Ryland began to take a step in your direction, but before he could, you pushed off the frame and walked up to him, leaving only a few inches in between your bodies. You leaned in, looking up at him, with your hands crossed behind your back.

“Nothing's wrong now, it's all perfect,” you commented, as you couldn’t help but trail your eyes down his body once again, but this time when your eyes met his you were met with a stern look that he so often gave to the kids when they were misbehaving. You gulped, straightening your body, as you walked over to the counter and propped yourself up on the space bedside the sink.

“Well, I had been calling out for my husband to come eat the diner his lovely wife had made, but he didn’t show up, so I thought to come check up on him,” you confessed, a pout appearing on your lips, as you feigned a pretend sadness. Ryland’s eyes went wide, this time with the realization that he had been so distracted in the task of trimming his beard that he didn’t even realize you were calling him to dinner.

“Ohh, I was so distracted with this that I didn’t even hear you. I’m so sorry, hon–,”

Before he could even finish his answer, you hooked your finger onto the waistband of his sweatpants, your finger brushing against his pelvis as you pulled him in, spreading your dangling legs so that he could occupy his rightful space between them.

“If you’re really, why don’t you apologize with a kiss then? Hm?” you questioned, but it was meant as more of a statement because even before he could open his lips to give a reply, your lips were already on them, pressing against the flush tissue, tongue gliding over the crevice, urging him to let you in, which he complied with readily.

Ryland’s body leaned into yours, as his one hand slipped around your waist, finding its way underneath your – his – oversized shirt and on the small of your back, tracing gentle circles on the soft skin, while the other gripped on to the edge of the counter for support.

Your one arm instinctively warped around his neck, pulling him in even closer, if that was even possible, while the other hand journeyed its ways up Ryland’s upper body, tracing a path up his fuzzy, blonde trail of hair near his pelvis, across his stiff abdomen, up the muscles of his chest, and all the way to to his jaw.

The warmth of Ryland’s body radiating onto your touch contrasted the cold of his metal framed glasses that pressed on your cheeks, while the hair of his beard tickled your skin. The mixed sensations of intimate moments with Ryland made your brain fuzzy. You didn’t want to pull away, but your lungs could only hold on to the oxygen for so long.

You both pulled away, only enough for the air to circulate into your body but remained connected as you pressed your foreheads together, akin to the bridge formed by the string of Silvia contesting your lips to his.

Your hands cradled Ryland’s jaw, your thumb caressing the hair of his beard underneath your touch. The feeling was a little different than usual, the bread was more fuller and thick as you pulled back realizing that it had been quite some time since Ryland had trimmed the hair on his face.

“Let me help you with your beard?” You asked with an arch of a brow in his direction.

“Yes, please”

You quickly got Ryland to have a seat on the lid on the toilet, finding your place between his legs, as your one hand rested on his shoulder, while the other grabbed the razer, already knowing what to do, having experience from all the time you had done this before.

Ryland’s hands naturally found their way to your waist, resting there gently, his fingers rubbing soothing for me mindlessly, letting you cut his beard with his full trust in your ability.

Ryland idly traced the features of your face that were beautifully contorted into an expression of concentration, observing the way your tongue poked out the corner of your lips just a little. Your hands guided Ryland’s face to the side as you continued trimming his beard, your thumb coming to rest directly on the pulse point in his neck.

Ryland closed his eyes, feeling himself relax under the warmth of your skin, your gentle scent lulling his brain away from any unnecessary thoughts, mediating in the rhythm of your heartbeat he could seemingly feel from where your hand rested on his pulse.

While Ryland had been lost in your comfort, he didn’t realize that you had completed your task. It was only when he felt your soft lips on his that it was brought out of his dreamland. Ryland opened his eyes as you pulled away, looking at yours with a smile.

You still remember the day when you had first met Eva. It was your second year of university, when walking up the stairs of the lecture hall of the required English class for your degree you noticed the set of short ash-ish blonde hair that shined just a little orange when the light would hit it right.

The women sat in the centre of the middle row of the hall, occupied by a book in one hand, while holding a large coffee cup in the other. She wore an all black outfit with a long trench coat layered on top. Her short hair was neatly tucked behind her ears, not a stray in sight. There was something about her that just pulled you in, as you deliberately made your way to the seat beside her, despite the room still being relatively empty.

Eva had sensed your presence as you had made your way over to her, and frankly it was hard not too given the sounds of the charms on your bag that jingled with each step, but she didn’t make an effort to look away from the book in hand. It was only when your hand came into the view of her peripherals, and your sweet voice made its way to her ears, that her gaze finally shifted over to you.

You introduced yourself, a grin resting on your lips, eyes smiling, filled with a welcoming warmth. Eva just stared at you for a moment, her eyes following down to your hand that was extended in her direction for her to shake, before they met yours again, that were unwavering, waiting for her to introduce herself as well. A small smile made its way to Eva’s lips. She admired your confidence, because not many would have the courage to go up to a stranger like this. You felt her hand take a hold of yourself, as finally introduced herself.

“Eva. Eva Stratt,”

‘Eva.’ The name rolled off your tongue so naturally that you just knew that you too would be close in the future – you were sure to make it be true.

—

“Hey, your fries are getting cold,”

It was Ryland’s voice that broke you out of your thoughts of Eva that had occupied your mind since earlier that morning, your first meeting. The conversation had flown with ease, and the mystery of her alluring accent was solved soon after that when she revealed that she was an exchange student from Germany, and was studying history, and when you found out that she was around two years older, man did that stir something inside you.

“Hey,” Ryland’s voice caught your attention, as he looked towards you with a little suspicion in his eyes as to what had caused your attention to drift away from your best friend.

“Huh, ohh, sorry, I was just thinking about someone I met earlier today,’ you let him know, picking up the fry that had already become cold, from the tray in front of you.

“Oh, and, um who would that be?” Ryland asked, while going in to take a bite of the burger he had ordered for lunch, as nonchalantly as he could, trying to hide the edge in his voice, however, having known Ryland for years, you could read him like a book, picking up on his littlest emotions, but you chose to ignore it for now, instead going on to recall your interaction with Eva to him.

Even though he was trying his best, Ryland couldn’t help but feel a bubble of irritation rise inside him at how you were talking about Eva, someone you had just met for a matter of fact, with literal hearts in your eyes. What was so great about her anyways, he thought to himself.

“Do you think it's too early for me to ask her out on a date?” you asked, not just to Ryland, but also to yourself, pondering on the question as you ended your passage on the lovely Eva.

Okay, maybe you did threw out that question just in passing because you knew you were sure to see such a dramatic reaction from of Ryland, but you admit that you could of been more courteous, because for poor Ryland, it caught him completely off guard, as he began choking on the sip of drink he was in the middle of shallowing.

“Cough, cough – a what— cough — you –,” Ryland tried to speak, impatient to ask you about what you had just said, however his coughing kept interrupting, even getting a few side eyes from others sitting in the vicinity, trying to enjoy their meals.

You reach over and place a hand over his one that was not occupied in covering his mouth as he coughed, instead sitting idly on the table. You told him to calm down first before continuing the conversation as you passed him a glass of water with your other hand, which he hurriedly took, giving you a small, embarrassed nod. A small smile caressed your lips, as you continued to gaze upon your best friend, as he attempted to collect himself.

You still remember the first time you had met Ryland. It was about a month into freshman year of high school, when you had found yourself in one of the computer labs tucked away in some discrete corner of your high school. It was the first meeting of the astronomy club. None of your friends shared your passion for the subject matter, so you had found yourself traversing the room alone, looking for a place to sit.

There were only a dozen or so other students present, only a few talking to each other, while most kept to themselves. You scouted the room, your eyes had settled upon a fluffy pair of blonde hair of a boy that sat in a corner, a book in hand, minding his own business, and conveniently for you, with an empty chair at his side.

‘New target found’ you thought to yourself, ready to make a new friend, and lucky for you, he just happened to be reading one of your sci-fi books making it easier to strike up a conversation.

“Are you reading ‘A Teacher in Space’? I love that book!”

And that was the beginning of a long friendship. Over the years your bond with Ryland grew, to the point that you even would refer to each other as your soulmates, platonically of course. Well… you wouldn’t be opposed if it ever turned to more than that, cause frankly he was very cute, obviously. But, that would never happen because he never had indicated anything like that throughout all those years.

That was of course up until you started noticing a shift after you both started university. Something had changed, and he had seemingly developed a little crush. You could have confronted him on it, but where was the fun in that. Instead teased him at any chance you got, trying to instigate him to just come clean, but god was the man stubborn.

“Ahem, ahem,”

Ryland cleared his throat, having finally calmed down. His eyes drew to yours, that were watching him, chin propped up on the palm of your hand, waiting for him to continue the conversation from earlier. Which he did, as he threw a question at you.

“I, Don’t you –, it is too early to ask her out. Like, you know, you might come on too strong, and you don’t even know if she might have feelings like yours, like … the romantic ones,” he stated, his voice trailing off to a quiet whisper, a ping of hurt mixed with jealousy in his heart.

“I meant it in a friendly date type of way. Like showing around the city or something, since she is new here” you clarified, watching as a blush creeps his cheeks, embarrassed at having assumed something else. He didn’t need to know that you did plan to ask her out on an actual date, not just yet though.

“Oh,”

“I mean that sounds nice, but maybe just start a little slower, maybe like a coffee on campus. And make sure she knows in what way you are asking,” Ryland suggested, feigning the act of a concerned friend, which he was but there were also personal and ulterior motives behind the advice.

—

The tapping of your pen against the low rise coffee table was a hushed whisper in the quiet of the room. where the only other sounds were the clicking of the keys as Ryland typed away some report that was due on the first day back from reading week, sat on the floor, across you from the table. While Eva sat behind you, propped up on the couch behind you, reading away her notes to prepare for some test she had next week.

Despite also having a pile of practice problems and a technical report to hand in soon after university resumed again, which you hadn’t even looked at the guidelines for yet, you just couldn’t focus on doing your work like the two of them had been doing. or were at least pretending on doing, because frankly they knew that your invitation for them to come over and study together was just a device to hide your ulterior motives, and you knew that they knew as well.

However, their collective, and what seemed to be somewhat planned, unresponsiveness was starting to seriously tick you off. And to add to the fact, your usual shenanigans that always tend to do a round on them, don’t seem to be working either.

They always were quietly butting heads with each other over you. You had noticed that even Eva had become aware of Ryland’s not so little crush on you soon after she began spending time with you. She aided you in your teasing through the extra things she would do for you causing him to one up her and do even more. Or with the little touches that lingered just long enough that it would make him jealous. However, you had noticed that along the way of this little pretend rivalry that Eva had started became real when she also started to feel something bubbling inside of her.

This, however, maybe it is harder for you to tease them both, because they would team up against you, like they were doing right now. “Why were they even doing this to you?” you groaned mentally too yourself.

Well, you did know the reason, which might have to do something with you lying to both of them that you were doing on a romantic date with someone, which did not sit well with them. Obviously, they did not stop you, because if you were into someone else, they would support you despite their own feelings, but that didn’t stop the little heart break they felt. Plus, to eventually find that you had actually just gone out with a group of friends, and you were just playing a light joke on them, had them feeling salty.

But this was too much, ignoring you like this wasn’t fair, especially when there were the two of them. However, you were determined to win.

You uncrossed your legs, extending one in Ryland’s direction, in a way to make the feathering touch of your toes against his skin that was exposed above his socks, amidst your movement that gently brushed up his pants just a little, seem like an innocent, mindless action. However, the way his body stilled for a moment, his tapping on the keyboard just skipping a beat in its rhythm just enough for one to notice, and the way his teeth clenched on the twizzler in his mouth to stop himself from whimper at your cold touch was all caught by your keen eyes. And, what he didn’t notice was the little tug of your lips, and the shine in your eyes that reflect the obvious nature of your actions.

You were quick to hide your emerging expression with a quick but exaggerated sigh, shifting to rest your back against the base of the couch, tilting your read back to settle it on Eva’s thigh, looking at her with a pout. Her eyes drew away from the papers in her hands, gazing down at you with a fascinated arch in her brow.

“I think I have grinded to many problems that my brian as turned to much,” you complained, clearly bluffing, which was evident to Eva who had been observing your little shenanigans like she had always done, despite feigning ignorance to your day’s antics. Her hand naturally found its way to the strands of your hair, twirling around her long finger.

“Has it now?” she quipped, her voice carrying an amused tone, noticing your unwavering stare from her. “Yaaa, I’m hungry, let's take a break and order something,” you whined, to which Ryland was quick to jump in, catching your attention, as your gaze turned to him, while your head still rested on Eva’s thighs.

“Uggh,” Ryland groaned, shutting the laptop with just a little too much force to hint at his irritated stance at your proximity to Eva over him at the moment.

“I think my fingers are about to fall off from all that typing,” he comments, weaving his fingers together, cracking them in a stretching motion, before extending his arms above his head with a yawn. The trail of blonde hair peeking out from beneath his shirt that had ridden up with his movements, catching not only yours, but also Eva’s eye.

“Let’s get food!” he exclaimed, moving across the length of the table in a swift motion, grabbing his phone along the way, before settling beside you, his knee brushing yours, and his shoulder pushing back against Eva’s leg on the couch in spite, making room for himself.

“Should we get the usual, or try something new? Ryland questioned.

“I-“

Before you could even get one word out, you were abruptly cut off by Stratt’s lips on yours. she had suddenly grabbed your jaw, having you face her and lean in to lock her lips with yours. And as soon as you felt the softness of her lips against yours, you instantly reached up to her neck, pulling her in closer, and giving way for her to tangle her tongue with yours.

The kiss was aggressive, like she had been wanting to do this just as much as you had, contrasting the gentleness of the thumb that was caressing your jaw. You didn’t want to pull away, even when your lungs were rationing the little air that was left. You didn’t want to. Why would you when you had finally gotten what you were chasing for quite some time now. It was only when Eva gave a light tug to the strands of your hair, that you pulled away, but still close enough for a string of saliva to connect the space between you too.

Her eyes looked down into your ones that looked up at her with a clear intensity, a smirk settling on her lips that were glossy from your shared kiss, before looking up and across at the man behind you, that you knew for sure was in a state of bewilderment.

“Should we try something new?”

You turned to look at the blonde man, whose pretty blue eyes were wide with surprise, eyebrows raised high, lips parted wide, and face burning with red. As soon as his eyes shifted away from Eva’s and over to yours, you were already jumping in his direction, pouncing on him in hunger.

Your hand wrapped around his neck, pulling him in to press your lips against his, but not further effort to move, giving him the opportunity to move, to push you away and to tell you that you had read him wrong. But, of course he didn’t. The flutter of his eyelashes against your cheek from the closing of his eyes in response to your warmth on him, and the small shift of his lips against yours was all you needed.

Your hand pushed him back, his body planted against the fluff wool of the rug below, your hands tangled with his, pining them on the sides of his head, your lips moving against his, in hunger. You had been waiting for this moment for a long time, from the time you had first developed a crush on him in high school, to when you found out that something had grown in his heart as well, and amidst the tension where neither of you wanted to make the first move.

Your hand makes its way to his locks, pulling on them and causing a whine to leave his lips, that gave you just enough to grant your tongue an invite into his mouth. Ryland was lost in the sensations of your touch, overwhelmed from the way the strands fell down to caress his jaw, the way you hands felt hot to his skin, making them feel clammy, but you didn’t mind, and the way your body pressing him down to the ground, made his mind spin. His heart that was running miles, seemed to be pumping all the blood in a completely different direction.

It was only when you thought you were truly going to suffocate from the lack of air, before you could truly get it on, did you finally pull away, the motions of your chest imitating Rylands as you both tried to catch your breath.

Your hands pressed against the muscles on his chest, trailing them down his torso as you propped yourself up, legs straddling his waist. You could tell just how aroused this whole ordeal had made him with the way his hard-on pressed up into you from below, causing a smirk to play on your lips.

His flustered state would be evident to anyone if they saw him right. His face was flushed, the shade of crimson even spreading up to his ears, down his neck, and highly likely all the way across his chest. It contrasted against the white of his shirt, the pale of his skin and the blonde of his hair that was sprawled on the rug, a few stray strands sticking to his forehead. His eyes were set in your direction in a hazy stare. The wetness of his lips was a sign of just how sloppy the shared kiss had been, as it glistened under light of the room, a trail of saliva journeying its way down his jaw that he had made no effort to wipe away.

Scandalous.

Yes, that would be the right word to describe how he looked right now, trapped under your mercy.

Eva’s hand had ghosted its way around your waste, before pulling you back to press against her front, as she had found a space behind you. She trailed kisses down the side of your neck, before resting her chin on your shoulder, looking down at Ryland alongside you. She felt the movement of your body, as you voiced out a question to the man under you.

“So, what do you say, Ry? Should we try something new today?”

“Oh sweetheart, got your mind so numb from the pleasure that you can’t even answer my simple question?” Eva quipped, pulling back a little to look up and see the contorted expression on your face, full of pleasure as she curled the fingers that were buried inside you, hitting the spot that had your back arching, causing you to push your chest further up into Ryland’s face. The whine you let out mixed with the groan that had left Ryalnd’s mouth, buzzing against your skin, as Eva shook her head at the both of you, before diving in to latch on her lips around your clit once more.

You had already been close, and Eva knew that, which was apparent by the increase in the number of whines leaving your mouth, a non-verbale plea for her to keep going, and help you reach your high. And the way she was rubbing circles around the nerve, along with her long fingers pumping in and out with a squelching sound, a testament to just how wet your pussy had become, all made you see stars behind your dazed eyes.

“M’close,” you voiced, followed by a string of moans filled with pleasure leaving your mouth, your hips grinding against Eva’s face. “Are you now?” Eva quipped, but got no answer, however, the sounds coming out of you were a confirmation of just how close you truly were.

“Its okay, sweetheart, come on, let go for me,” Eva encouraged, and that was all your body needed, as your wall clenched around her fingers, your back arching once more, legs going stiff with your toes curling as you unravel from the pleasure, your juicing paintings the lower half of Eva’s face.

Eva lets you calm down, pulling away but not before leaving a kiss just above the clitro's hood, and finally removing her fingers from inside you. Her fingers glistened under the light, as she brought them to her lips, licking along their length, closing her eyes to savor the taste of you, while fully aware of the two pairs of two eyes that were keenly watching the enticing sight in front of them.

When Eva opened her eyes, her eyes locked with yours, a smirking tugging at the corner of lips, before she leaned forward. You were anticipating for her to kiss you, but instead her arm reached out to wrap around the back of Ryland’s neck, pulling him in towards her, locking her lips with his. The kiss was sloppy, as Eva forced her tongue to tangle with his, their saliva mixing together to share the taste of you.

You watched, propping yourself on your elbows, as they continued their shared display of very lewd intimacy. It sends an electrifying sensation through your body, stirring the sense of arousal in your stomach once more, causing you to rub your thighs together, a needy whine arising from your throat.

“Don’t worry sweetheart, we’ll take care of you. Won’t we, Ryland?”

It wasn’t long before their position had switched. You found your back pressed against the bedding of the mattress, where Eva sat leaning on the head board of the bed, you head resting between her legs, on the plush of her thigh. While on the other hand, Ryland was situated with your legs that were wrapped around his waist, pulling him in closer.

Ryland’s arms latched on to the fats of your thigh, with a hold that was gentle but also firm, seemingly a way to ground himself to prevent his mind from getting lost in the feverish sensation of him grinding his cock between your folds. The tip would constantly brush against your entrance, teasing it devilishly before sliding back up, causing your string of whines to spill out of your mouth.

“Ry!” you groaned, your flush with pleasure, but the frustration also evidently present in the tone of your voice, indicative of the rising urge to feel him inside of you. To this, Ryland’s movement completely stopped, his just resting against your folds, as he took a moment to look down at you.

His dazzy blue eyes looked to yours, that indicated a clear lust, and your neck covered in shades of red and purples, made his cock twitch.

His eyes drew to Eva’s hand, that slid down the curves of your chest, along the softness of your stomach to your pelvis, before her fingers came to part the lips of your cunt, holding them open to bare your entrance clearly to the eyes that followed them down. Rylands’s eyes still remained, even when Eva’s voice made its way to his ears.

“Come on Ryland, you hear them,” Eva encouraged.

“You want him to fuck you? To make you feel good, baby?” Eva’s eyes met yours, her words further stirring up the arousal in the pit of your stomach, as you shifted your eyes back to Rylands’s as they curiously gazed upon them, the lust still shining in them.

“Fuckk, yes, pleaseee,” you voiced, a desperation lingering onto your words, while telling them that you did want this as well.

Ryland a deep groan escaped Ryland’s chest upon hearing the dirty words, and your plea, finally aligning himself to your entrance and pushing the tick head in. There was a slight burn, as the thick girth grazed your gummy walls, but once it subsided as Ryalnd’s length buried itself fully inside you, beginning to slowly move in and out, the uncomfortable sensation quickly turned into one of pleasure.

It felt so good, as Ryland picked up his pace, feeling more confident and eager to satisfy his own and your growing arousal now, having heard just how good he was making you feel through the loud moans you let out.

“Are you getting close, baby?” you heard a voice, only shaking your head, your mind feeling too dazed from the pleasure to even give a verbal response. The sensation was only intensified when Eva’s fingers found their way to your clit, rubbing the sensitive bundle of nerves to aid you in reaching your orgasm, and it didn't take long.

Your back arched, as your toes curled, and legs further secured themselves around Ryland’s waist as you felt a gush of pleasure leave your body, the tightness in your stomach finally relieving itself as you came around Ryland’s cock.

Ryland had already been close, but when he had felt your wall clench around him, feeling the pulse of his head on his length, it was enough to drive him over the edge. A desperate groan ripped from his throat, as with one last thrust, he buried himself deep inside of you as his own orgasm washed over him letting the hot liquid from his release spill inside of you.

The mixed sensations were just too much for him to handle, as his body collapsed on top of your body, his head coming to rest on your chest, while he remained buried inside of you. The rhythm of his breath matched yours, as you both calmed down with a vigorous rush of adrenaline.

Your eyes turned up to lock with Eva’s, her hand having come up to push away the strands of hair that had come to stick to your face, before leaning down to place a soft kiss on your lips. As you parted away, your attention turned to Eva’s groin, that was conveniently close to your face as your head still rested on her thigh.

You brought up your hand to rub your finger down the crevice of the lips, seeing a shiver run through Eva’s body at the feeling of the touch on the sensitive area. You pulled away your finger, the wetness from her arousal collecting on the tip. You brought it to your mouth, a satisfying hum leaving your lips at the taste of her.

Your fingers found their way back to Eva’s heat, your fingers rubbing in a continuous movement, up and down her slit, before coming to probe at her wet entrance, as you inserted in two fingers. A sound of approval left her, which quickly turned into a full on string of moans when she felt you nuzzle your face into her cunt, your mouth sucking gently in her clit.

Eva, who was always the more cool and collected one out of the trio was losing her composure under your touch, and you couldn’t help but let a small smile rest on your lips parted ways with the nerve and rested back on her thigh.

“Does this feel good, Eva?” you asked her, continuing to pump your fingers in and out of her, however you didn’t get a response, instead her eyes closed as her head tilted back, getting lost in the pleasure.

Ryland’s hands also trailed up Eva’s thigh, coming to assist in rubbing circles on her clit, as you continued to thrust your fingers inside of her. With you both working together, it wasn’t long before you felt Eva clench around your fingers, as she reached her orgasm.

You brought your fingers to your mouth and licked them clean of her fluids from them, before going back in to clean the residue that had remained around the area.

A comfortable silence lingered after the highlighted emotions of the afternoon had relaxed by now, and it was Ryland’s voice that broke through.

“So, should we finally get something to eat?”

“Hm, only if we go for round two after.”

You watched as Ryland pried the pen from his teeth, scribbling a few things on the paper in hand, before stamping it with a sticker from his extensive pile he had collected throughout the years, with your help of course. It was when he went to grab the next paper to grade from the pile with a gruntled groan that he noticed you standing at the door.

“Ohh, hey honey!” his voice was instantly more chirpier, a shine had appeared in his eyes, that smiled, following suit to the movement of his lips, watching you make your way closer to him. He had already rolled his chair to the side, your eyes drawing to the way his legs parted instinctively as an invitation, which you answered eagerly by straddling his lap, your arms wrapping around his torso and your head settled in the crook of his neck.

“Let me keep you company?” you questioned, but it was more of a statement because you had no plans to leave him alone at this point, and your husband wouldn’t want to have it any other way.

It wasn’t long after that Ryland had found himself buried inside of you, the ungraded papers long forgotten, as he partially begged you to fuck him, and when you finally did, it had him seeing stars. You felt so good, your body burning hot against his own. His hands gripped onto your hips, helping guide your movements, but also just tight enough that it would leave marks afterwards, in an attempt to keep himself grounded.

“Baby,” he groaned, the sounds of his pleasure growing louder as he was getting close. And it wasn’t long before you felt his body go stiff, as he came inside of you, filing you up full. However, your movements didn’t stop, chasing your own pleasure as you overstimulated the poor man under you.

“Honey,” he voiced, his words trailing into a moan, as he threw his head back against the chair. You looked down to see your husband’s face contorted in pleasure, cheeks flushed red, beads of sweat forming on his forehead, causing a few stray stands of his tousled, blonde hair to stick to the skin. God, was this man beautiful.

And when you saw his half lidded eyes look up to you, with a dazed look, and smirk coming to tug at his lips, it sent you over the edge. Your motion came to a halt as your back arched, pressing your chest up against Rylands, as you finally reached your high.

You felt his soft lips trail kisses down your neck, as your chest still rose and fell with heavy breaths, helping to calm your accelerated heart beat, before Ryland came to rest his head in the crevice of your flush breasts.

Ryland felt as if he was about to fall asleep, lost in the warmth of your body, before he felt a sticky adhesive press against his cheek, under the pressure of your thumb.

He pulled his head back, looking up at you, with a little hum of confusion leaving him, only to come face to face with a grinning you. His hand reached up to feel a plasticy, star shaped item on his face, coming to the realization of what it was as he saw you grab the sticker sheet off the table.

“Baby?”

“What?Just thought to give you a sticker for what a good job you did,” you told him nonchalantly, watching his eyes narrow at you, before a small pout settled on his lips. You watched as his hand reached up, pointing to a glossy, red heart spaced cutout on the sticker sheet in your hand.

“This one too, please,’ Ryland voiced out, causing a small laugh to leave your lips, before he face ended up with not just one more but many other stickers littered on his face.

You let your eyes wander about his figure, the one of many science t-shirts he wore today catching your eyes. The puns on them always made you roll your eyes a little, but you did come to love seeing him wear one of those, and maybe a reason just was the way the shirts hugged his biceps and highlighted the curves of his upper body.

“I can’t believe I am finally done,” you stated, implying at the fact of receiving the approval for your master’s discretion today, and that you were officially done with the degree. You had been lounging at Ryland’s apartment earlier today, sat sprawled out on one end reading a novel, while he sat on the other end, concentrating on a new research paper that had caught his attention. It was a regular Saturday for both of you, hanging out at one of your apartments, relaxing on your days off. It was during this time the notification had come, followed by your scream that startled Ryland, before you jumped into his arms, cheerily telling him about the approval.

“Yea?” Ryland quipped, his one brow arching up, as he slightly tilted the beer bottle in hand towards your direction in a knowing manner, because it was not too long ago when he had finished his own PhD.

“MmmHmm,” you hummed out, nodding your head. “There were many times where I almost dropped out,” you admitted, chuckling at the memories of struggling during late nights, early morning lectures where the prof did nothing more than rant about some random tangent, and the many breakdowns, which all just seemed very small now.

You saw Ryland turn to look out towards the horizon, leaning in a little, resting his forearms against the railing. His hair gently swayed with the wind, as your eyes took the time to trace the lines of his face. They followed down the curves of his nose, along his cupid's bow, down the divot between his soft lips, and along the angle of his sharp jaw line. In that moment, the moon peaked out from behind the clouds, shining down on the man in front of you, just when he tilted his head to look towards you, his brow raising in question, while the corner of his lips tugging into a small smile.

God, was he beautiful.

And those eyes, they were breathtaking. You still remember the first time you gazed into them. It was the first lab of first year physics. You had felt someone sit on the only empty chair in the room, that was beside. And when you turned over to introduce yourself to your lab partner for the day, and also hoping to make a new friend, that is when you first came face to face with him. The eyes of the man captivated you instantly, and from there on out, every time he was near, they drew you in like having casted a spell on you.

So much was shared through those eyes: the curiosity of meeting you, the growing familiarity when you would say hi to him in the lecture hall, the eagerness to help you when you asked him a question regarding practice problems, the tiredness of shared late study nights to prepare for exams, the unexpectedness of when you asked him to hang out after exams which quickly turned to enthusiasm. As the relationship grew from classmates to that of eventually best friends, so did the depth of the emotion they shared. There was now joy, sadness, achievements, success, regrets, fears, sorrow and many others.

As his eyes just continued to draw you in, and somewhere along the line, the shine behind the way you looked at him turned into something more.

Just like countless times before, today once again, those crystal blue eyes that shined tonight as if waves of the ocean under the full moonlight, capturing you in their embrace, refusing to loosen their hold on you, instead wanting to swallow you whole and drag you down into their depth. And if it hadn’t been for Ryland’s voice that pulled you out, you might have truly let yourself drown.

“What’s got you thinking so hard?” He inquired, clearly wondering about the long stance you had found yourself, trying to ignore the way you had been lost in his eyes, while hoping the darkness of the night would cover the hues on his face that had crept up its way under your gaze. “Oh, I –”

‘You’

Your brain wanted your mouth to scream. To not just tell the man himself, but anyone that would stop to listen on this quiet night. To lay your heart bare, to share with him what had been eating it away, the ache to tell him that somewhere along the way, that it was only his name that your heart remembered how to say.

You didn’t mean to fall for him like this, but there was just something about him that continued to pull you in. However, it was always your friendship that had always come first. There was no way you would want to lose someone as amazing as Ryland Grace in your life over some stupid emotions you couldn’t help but feel.

But with the passage of time and the growing memories you shared together, something seemed to change, this time not in you, but him. It made you wonder, if maybe the skin to skin contact that remained just long night, meant something more. That gaze that would linger on you just long enough for you to catch it, to notice it, to feel an intensity behind them that seemed to be different than what you would share between two friends, was a sign. If the longing that teetered the lines of being just friends, was an indication that maybe, there could be something more.

Sometimes you just wanted to risk it all, however, most of the time, in this regard, you were simply a coward.

Ryland brought the beer bottle in his hand to his lips, taking a sip of the cold liquid, while his gaze remained down, looking at you. Giving you time to figure out whatever has occupied your mind for quite some time now. Your eyes, however, didn’t come up to meet his, instead they remained just little ways down, fixated on the way his adam’s apple bobbed with each swallow, watching his tongue gently rolled over his bottom lip, to catch the little droplet that was left behind, and the way they glisten under the soft light of the moon.

He was so beautiful that your brain couldn’t even help you catch yourself before you muttered ‘pretty’ just under your breath, just a little mummer in the breeze of the night. Despite that, the wind seemed to have carried the words along with it to Ryland’s ear, as a cough erupted from within his chest, as he choked on the liquid that was trying to make its way down his esophagus, taken aback by surprise.

“Sorry – , what did–, say–,” he tried to form sentences amidst his coughing fit, causing your hand to instinctively make its way to his back, rugging soothing circles. Ryland took a moment to calm down, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, and clearing his throat as he tried to speak. However, once again, before he could form a full sentence, your words intruded, knowing the wind out of his body.

“Can I kiss you?”

It was bold, and you knew it. Had you gotten drunk on a light beer? Or had you become a drunken sailor trying to navigate the tides of his ocean like eyes? You didn’t really know, but the fact was, your mind felt as sober as ever, clear when it had deliberated to give in to its selfish desire of wanting something more. A conscious decision to put your years of friendship on the line. To shift the equilibrium of the see-saw in his direction and see if it would come to a new state of balance or if you would be the one falling forever. All to see, if possibly your observations that led you to the hypothesis, that just maybe, he also had a hint of resemblance of something similar in his heart. That maybe, he too had wished for something more.

Open hearing your words, his body seemed to have stopped breathing just as the swaying of the trees had some to handstill, indicative of an incoming storm.

What? What did you mean? Despite having a PhD in molecular biology, his brain couldn’t seem to comprehend your simple words. Or more like it did, but it just couldn’t believe that it might truly mean what he was thinking.

He must be drunk? Right?

But when your eyes that had still been stuck on his lips, having seen how they had parted upon hearing your sudden ask, seeing the way the moments of his chest had gotten eerily still, finally decided to meet his gaze, he knew exactly what you had meant. Exactly what you were wanting.

“Ry, breath,” you told him, and his body took that as a command, finally letting in the air that it had seemed to have forgotten about. He took deep breaths, trying to find their usual rhythm. Your hand that still reminded on his back, felt hot to his skin even through the fabric of his shirt, but the warmth helped his mind feel grounded. He swears you could likely hear the sounds of his heart thundering against his ribcage, emulating the way of the clouds above in the same way. Ryland’s gaze into your eyes was intense, filled with unspoken emotions, and thoughts that were running in his mind.

For a few moments, that felt like very long minutes, you both stood there, in the stillness of the night, as your eyes communicated what your voices weren’t. Your eyes were inviting, while his blues ones flickered with reluctance, with a hint of the same need as yours.

HIs eyes caught the slow movements of your arm retreating from where its hand was on his back. A sudden sadness reflecting in his eyes at the loss of contact. Ryland clenched his hands into fists to stop himself from just reaching out to you,and pulling you in to capture your lips with his own.

“Won’t you kiss me, Ryland?” you asked, with a venomous sweetness lacing your voice, as you tilted your head to the side, looking up at him with that hypnotic gleam, that if a person could become drunk from just a gaze, he would have been declared an alcoholic a long time ago.

It was as if you were his star, and he was a planet in your orbits, being pulled in with a gravity that was ready to unravel him to his core.

Ryland abruptly closed his eyes shut, gently shaking his head, trying to gain back some sense of control over his emotions that were trying to drown him, and he just can’t let that happen. Well, at least not until he was fully sure that it was truly as it seemed.

In that moment, what he didn’t see was the way your brows furrowed, and your lips protruding outwards. What he did notice was the shift in your presence, as you took a step away from his figure, causing his lids to open in an instance, his pupils shaking with waryness, trying to find your gaze once again. However, you were already in the process of turning away, as you began to speak again.

“I see. I’m sorry for making you uncomfortable. Please just forget about —”

“Wait! Wait –, no, no, no,” Ryland exclaimed frantically, shaking his hands in front of him in an attempt to put emphasis on his words, and to stop your attention from deviating away from his direction.

“No, I don’t want to,” he continued on, and hearing this the pout on your face instantly became a frown. This further elevated his disoriented state, while he tried to find the right words to convey to you what had truly been going on in his head.

To tell you, that he wanted to kiss you, and that the thought had plagued his mind for so long. To tell you how disgusted he would feel with himself, because he wasn’t supposed to feel this way for his best friend. But he couldn’t help it, because you were just so kind, just so caring, empathic, smart, beautiful, and so much more. You were everything that he just couldn’t help falling for you. He wanted to tell you, but his brain had seemed to short circuit due to his heightened emotions that he wasn’t even able to form proper sentences.

“No, I don’t want to forget, I –” He tried again, breathing heavily. He paused, his eyes catching yours, that were waiting for him patiently, giving him the time to collect himself, and preparing themselves for the worse, ready to face the rejection that he might throw at them. He had thoughts of wanting to confess to you someday, to tell you just how much he had started to like you, and dreamed of you also feeling the same, but it wasn’t like this. He didn’t want to do it like this.

“Ask me tomorrow,” he finally blurted out, with the last of the energy his brain could muster up, just as the rain started to trickle down from the clouds. You saw his shoulders slump, feeling guilty, because in this moment there was nothing more he could say to you than to mutter this request. Your expression was that of confusion, clearly indicative that you did not understand what he was referring to. “Please,” he pleaded, with not just his words, but also with his eyes.

“Ask me to kiss you, tomorrow.”

Oh. You voiced a breathy laugh, uttering a little ‘what?’, taken a little aback, but all you were met was his desperate stare, as you both stood there silent, with the sounds of nothing but the thunder and rain hitting the ground.

"If we are really going to do this, I want you to be sure,” He was the one to break the vow of silence this time, a seriousness casting over the environment with his words.

“I am sure.” Your reply was firm, with no sign of hesitation, as you took a step towards him, causing him to take one backwards. He just shook his gently, causing some of his messy, blonde locks to fall atop his forehead. “I need you to be sober,” he confessed, making you aware of his reason for hesitation.

“Seriously, Ry? You questioned, feeling a little irritated now, as you crossed your arms in front of your chest, but all you got in return was that same stare of plea. “I barely had half a bottle of a light beer, so I am not drunk,” you stated, putting an emphasis near the end of your sentence, taking another step towards his direction.

Ryland was now backed up against the railing of the balcony, the water from the rain that had collected on its surface clinging to his shirt near the lower back. He watched as you took another step forward, causing him to gulp at the unyielding glint in your eyes. You were only a foot away from him, before you leaned in, stopping just an inch away from his lips.

“Ry?” you whispered his name, urging him to say something, but the way he could feel your breath fanning his lips, his mind was more focused on the closeness of your bodies in this context, using every fibre in this body to stop himself from closing the distance. So all he could mutter out was a breathy ‘please’.

You let out a sigh, retreating your body, and putting some distance between yourself and him, before turning around and heading towards the entrance, but before you stepped inside, you looked over your shoulder with a beaming smile.

‘Okay, I will ask you tomorrow.’

Ryland watched you through the window, as you made your way across his living room, into the adjacent hallway, and out of his sight. He assumed that you had likely left to wind down for the night and head to sleep, leaving in him a mess of his own emotions. His knees had become weak, as they gave in, causing his body to plop down on the pavement floor, resting his head in his hands, back pressed against the railing.

His face was flushed red. His heartbeat still rampant against his chest, drumming in his ear against the rhythm of the rain hitting the concrete ground below. He could feel the pulse in his throat. Only the droplets of rain hitting his back provided some relief while his body felt like it was burning as if being roasted over a flame. Ya, he wasn’t getting any sleep tonight, that was for sure.

—--

It was the rays of the morning sun kissing your skin with warmth that woke you out of your slumber the next day, and it was when you brought the blanket up to cover your face to shield your eyes from the brightness that you smelled his scent from the fabric. It was then when your brain remembered how you had stayed at his place the night before, and the conversation that had taken shape prior.

This resulted in propping yourself up on your elbow to look at the man that should have been beside you. You both would share the same bed when you would sleep over, often falling asleep while watching movies, but that definitely wasn’t the case this time. As expected, you didn’t find him, only a completely empty space under the covers, but what you did come across was an orange post-it on the bed stand, with a writing that you recognized instantly.

‘Going out to get breakfast from your favourite place, be back in 45 minutes’ it had said. You could tell by the curves of the lines that he had written the note hastily, as if trying to run away from something.

A small smile came to a rest on your face, as you gazed upon the note in your hand, before you broke into a laughter of embarrassment, dropping your head into your arms. You just sat there for a while, the conversation and the words spoken last night playing in your head, over and over again. The longer you sat there, the more agitated you became, to the point where you eventually found yourself under the water of a cold shower trickling down your body.

You had hoped that it would help you clear your mind, help you get a better grip on your thoughts and emotions, and a better idea of what you were going to do now. However, by the time you had finished brushing your teeth with a pink toothbrush that always sat beside his orange one, putting on a pair of clothes from the multiple that had accumulated in his closet, to purposefully using his perfume instead of your own that you carried everywhere with you in your bag, your emotions just felt even more heightened.

Frankly, you were scared.

Whatever was in the air last night that made you blurt out your feelings that you had been so desperately trying to bury wasn’t there any more, and only the fear of ruining the most precious friendship that you had built in your life remained. A fear that it will never be the same anymore. A fear that what you had seen in his eyes wasn’t the same love that you felt. That it wasn't what you were hoping it to be, and that you would never see that same emotion behind his eyes ever again. Your mind wanted to apologize to him as soon as he walked in from the front door. Apologise to him for your behaviour from last night. Ask him to forget what had slipped from your lips, beg him to remove the memory from his mind. All in the hope that it wouldn't affect the friendship you both had built, that the connection between you too would remain the same. In the hopes that nothing would change.

But…

You wanted it to change.

You selfishly want it to be more. Something different, something that allows you to hold his hand in public, to kiss him in front of the world as a declaration of your love. Something that would allow you to call him just yours. And a part of you was hoping, especially after what he had said last night, that maybe there was a possibility of something more.

It was the sounds of the front door opening that brought you out of the train of thoughts you were on. You heard the shuffling, and the sound of footsteps you instantly, recognized coming from the living room. You took a deep breath, mentally preparing yourself, before you got off the bed and made your way to him.

The smell of the food is what hit you first, catching him setting a bag down on the small table. You slowly made your way into the space, making your presence known to him. You felt a little unease in your stomach, fiddling with your hands behind your back, your teeth lightly nibbling on your bottom lip.

Oh, you were nervous. You still haven't decided what you are going to do, but you’ll just let him guide the flow of how the rest of this morning will go.

“Moring,” Ryland called out to you, turning towards you with a small smile, but refusing to meet your eyes, before quickly returning his attention to taking out the takeout boxes from the plastic bag. “I got your favourite, let's eat before it gets even more cold,’ he invited, his voice coming out even shakier than he had expected.

A sense of dread washed over you, the uncomfortable tension in the air sticking to your skin, making your hands feel clammy. At the moment, you just decided to apologize for last night, and hope you both will just be able to leave it in the past. “Ry, I am so, so sorry. Please, let’s just forget —,”

“No,” he cut you off abruptly, making you pause on what you were about to continue to say, as silence set in the space between you. It was quiet for a moment, as if he was running through the consequences of what he was about to do one last time, before his blue eyes finally met yours for the first time today.

They were intense.

Intense with emotions that seemed to match your own. His mind had also been pondering since the conversation last night, barely getting any sleep. Only the thoughts of the possibilities were on his mind when he had headed out this morning. And the questions of ‘what it would mean’ were the only things that filled his mind on his way. What it would mean to finally cross the line that you both had been teetering on for quite some time.

A soft call of your name left his lips, as it settled the space between. He saw the way your eyes gazed him

upon patiently waiting for him to continue.

“Do you like me?” He questioned, with caution, hoping the answer would be along the lines of a yes, given the event of the past night but fearing that somehow it might truly be something that maybe he wasn’t fully ready to hear at this point. Despite trying to prepare himself that even if you hadn’t meant it like that, it was okay. That it would be fine. That is what he had told himself on his way back.

“Ya”

Your answer was instant, not giving his mind any time to let the negative affirmations run rampant. But he still couldn’t believe it. Did you really feel the same way he did? Had you also spent countless nights thinking about him the way his brain couldn’t get off the topic of you? Did you also think about those unintentional brushes of skin? The friendly touches that sent electricity running through his veins.

“No, but, like, do you really ‘like’ like me?” he questioned. He needed to be fully sure. Affirmative of what you truly felt before he crossed a line that he can never recover from. A line he never wanted to return to.

“Yes. Ryland, I do” you stated, watching as his breathing staggered, his lips parted, trying to assist his lungs to get more air to pump to his heart that seemed to be running miles. At this point, his heart was beating so fast that even you could probably hear it beating in its chamber from the distance you were from him. Why were you standing so far away from me? He internally whined, needing you to be closer, to hold you in his arms, and never let go, and lucky he didn’t have to wait too long, when you started to step closer with each word you spoke there on.

“I like you a lot, actually,” you admit, like you hadn’t already made it clear to him. Taking your first step towards him, feeling a little confident now seeing how flustered he had gotten, very clearly evident by the way a hue of red had spread across his face, up to his ears, and down his neck.

“And I have, for quite some time,” you continued on, taking an even bigger step in his direction this time, feeling eager to close the gap more quickly now.

“Do you like me, Ryland?” and as you finished your passage to convey your feeling for him, you had traversed the distance that you had set itself between your bodies previously. You stood face to face with him, the tips of your feet brushing against his, as you gazed up at him, waiting expectantly, because it was his turn to speak what his heart wanted to say.

“Ya,” he blurted out through an exhale of a breath that unknowingly had remained stuck in his lungs. His voice came louder than he meant it, and his response was even faster than yours, somehow. “Ya?” you questioned, a little teasingly now, because a sense of relief had finally dawned upon you, having gotten confirmation that in fact he did feel the same for you.

“Yes!” he exclaimed this time, the grips of his brain on his body coming loose, because it was his heart that held the wheel now, going at a speed his brian just could not keep up with. He wanted to tell you, about what he truly felt for you, how he had tried so hard for so long to get a handle on his feelings, to tell his brain to stop, because you were his best friend. His dearest friend that he couldn’t afford to lose due to that stupid crush that he had developed on you. However, it wasn’t his brain that couldn’t stop thinking about you, but rather his heart that couldn’t stop calling out your name, hoping that someday it would reach your ears.

He tried to find the words, but they just didn’t come to him, so his heart instead jumped at the chance his lagging brain had given him, to blurt out what it really wanted.

“Can you ask me?”

There was a desperation laced behind his word, as his eyes pleaded to you. Despite that, and exactly knowing what he was referring to, you decided to play with him just a little further, like you did so often by feigning ignorance to his words.

“Ask you what?” your inquired, an overly sweetness coating your words, giving him the best pair of your doe eyes, which only earned you a groan of your name from him, and damn did you find it hot, but that wasn’t the point right now.

“Please,” he was basically begging you at this point, and heck he was ready to even get down on his knees for you. A little chuckle left your lips, before a lasting grin found its way to them. You looked at him for a moment, your eyes shining with nothing but love, before you finally gave into his plea.

“Can you kiss me, Ry?”

And as those words left your lips, his own were already on yours, pressing softly before taking your reciprocation as yes to dive further. You finally had what you had been wanting for so long. What you had been doing for so long, and it was exactly how you had dreamed. The way he kissed you with care, with love and with hunger that of an explorer lost in the desert finally coming across a well full of water. The way his arms had found their way around your waist, his hands resting on your lower back, pressing you against his body with a gentle touch.

When the breath of air had finally run out, you both pulled away. Along the way, his hands had found yours, the warmth of his skin radiating on yours. You both stood there, gazing into each other's eyes. There was so much to say. So much you both wanted to tell each other, to lay your heart bare in front of each other, but nothing came to fruition, because the eyes always told more than words ever could.

It was your laugh that had finally broken the silence, bringing you both out of the daze you had fallen upon, a contagious infection that even he had caught on. It wasn’t just that he had caught, he had also caught a wonderful disease known as love.

“Shall we eat now, before the food gets cold?”

You hummed along to his words, voicing little ‘ohh’, and a few ‘I see’, putting on a facade of listening, but in reality, the words were all just becoming mush in your head. At this point, the lack of concentration was starting to get you, as you started to become agitated, which even Ryalnd had taken notice of, evident by the shaking of your leg, that started to pick up pace along with the pointer finger that tapped on the island surface. 

Before Ryland could question your lack of attention on him, you let out a long and deep groan of frustration that rumbled through your whole chest. In an impulsive move, you grabbed Ryland's wrist, bringing his hand that was still in the air to your mouth. You bite down on his index finger, pressing your teeth into the skin, not hard enough to hurt, but firm enough to cause a tingle. 

“Hey!” Ryland exclaimed in surprise. 

“OwW, what’s this for?” He quipped, his features playing a mock expression of hurt, but had put in no effort to pull his hand out of your hold, already well used to your random antics by now. 

“D’no, just trying to focus I guess,” you told him, as the act of biting his finger had now gently turned into one of gently sucking on the skin. Ryland’s expression only turned to one of intrigue, quirking an eyebrow with an inquiry. “Shouldn’t you be biting or sucking, or whatever, on your own finger then?” 

You didn’t give him an answer, and just shrugged your shoulders in response. Ryland didn’t say much to that, and instead watched while letting you use his hand for what you were using it for. It would be a lie, if he said nothing stirred in his stomach, when you looked up at him, trying to edge him into something more with just your stare. And it would be a lie if he said he wasn’t feeling turned on. 

He gently began to pry his hand out of your mouth, to which you showed resistance by biting down on his finger as it tried to escape, giving him a little growl. ‘Cute’ was all he thought, proceeding to remove his hand from your hold, as it went to grab on to the edge of your chair, pulling it closer, lining it right next to his, before he presented it to you again. 

“Here, you can use my hand all you want, if it helps you focus,” he stated, with an inviting gleam in his eyes. And well, you would say it was his fault for not specifying what he was referring to when wanting to help you focus, because you had now found yourself situated on his couch, straddling hip lap, with all your attention going to riding his cock, not a single comprehension of what he was saying going to your head. 

“You know, you could have just told me if you weren’t in the mood of studying today, Hm?” he spoke between groans of pleasure, as he tried to keep a hold of his own composure but you were sure making it hard by the way you were grinding down on him. 

His one hand wrapped around your waist, the warmth of his skin burned, as if it was trying to etch his fingerprints onto your flesh. His other hand softly gripped on to your chin, his thumb pressing onto your tongue, as you sucked on it gently. You didn’t even bother to say anything, just wanting to chase your own pleasure. 

“Not even going to give me any response huh? You really are distracted today, aren’t you?” 

“And what did you find?” you inquired.

“The most brightest and radiant star,” he replied.

A little soundless laugh left your mouth, before closing your eyes to endorse yourself in the comfort of the morning and warmth in his present. You felt his arms move to your waist, pulling you closer to himself, removing you from the path of the sunlight, leaving you only to feel his own radiance under his touch. Your body now pressed against his side, despite not opening your eyes, you knew he was looking at, with the same love that never left his eyes when they turned to your direction.

You felt his lips press to your forehead, leaving a kiss, before they travelled down the rest of your face, leaving little whispers of love on your eyes, the tip of your nose, trailing down your cheeks, before ending up at the corner of your lips. All the while his hand that supported his head, now running through your hair, leaving little soothing rubs.

When they finally met your lips, you trailed your hand up his chest, before resting it on the back of his neck, tangled in his blonde strands. The kiss was gentle and warm, his lips melting into yours. They lingered there for a few moments and then travelled across your jaw, down your neck, leaving peppering the path with butterfly kisses, coming to a rest at your collarbone.

His hand fiddled with the small button of your night shirt for a moment, before finally opening it, kissing up the exposed skin, following with the rest as he took the time to place kisses on each patch of newly revealed skin after every button. He sucked a little, just hard enough at some spot to leave a little bruise. Once your full torso was revealed, he just backed away to look at the beauty of it all, going back to lick your nipple that was already hard, slightly due to the cold air it was exposed to, but mostly due to what Ryland’s touch was doing to your body.

His lips finally latched on to your nipple, sucking on it gently, swirling his tongue around it at times. Your eyes were already hazy from the pleasure he was giving to your body, when they gazed down, only to find Ryland’s already looking at you past the rim of his glasses that sat a little askew and a little down the nose of his bridge. His own eyes displayed a sense of how he was feeling from pleasuring you like this, seeing that it was his own touch that had you flushed like this.

He held the eye contact, refusing to break away from it first, and the intensity in eyes left you with a lack of capacity to do so either. Not like you would have pulled away even if you could, because you wouldn’t want to miss this sight of your husband. However, in the end, you were the one that lost this silent game of a staring contest, when his other hand gave a rough brush against the nipple that had lacked the attention, causing your back to arch, pushing your chest into his face, feeling the cold material of his glasses press against the plush skin of your breast, a blissful moan leaving your mouth.

Only then did he break his gaze away from your face, before putting his full attention back to your chest, continuing to suck on the bud that was already in his mouth, while his hand continued to play with the other. He finally decided to pull away when he felt you push your legs together, trying to elevate a need that was starting to build up down there, cause it didn’t seem like your husband was planning to help anytime soon by the way he was taking his damn sweet time on your chest. He pulled off the nipple, grazing his teeth against it as he parted ways from the area.

Ryland dragged his hand to your thigh, pulling your legs apart, and keeping them that way, causing you to whine out his name, resulting in a stir of the arousal in his stomach. He went back on his journey down your ribcage, leaving sloppy kisses and a trail of saliva that followed. This action continued down your navel, coming to a stop at the waistband of your pajama pants.

The hand on your thigh that already did the act of keeping your legs apart, further pushed to separate them, to which you obliged with, as Ryland situated himself between them. He took a look at you, seeing how disheveled you had already become just from his wet kisses and a little sucking to your chest, and this turned him on even more than he already was this morning.

His hands found their way to your waistband, hooking his fingers onto them but just stopping there and refusing to go any further until he got your confirmation he was asking for when his eyes once again met yours. It didn’t take long for it to come along, as he heard a whiney ‘Ry’ from you, causing a chuckle to leave his mouth, deciding to finally help you get rid of your bottoms that you had been feeling so desperate to get off of you, before he discarded them somewhere on the floor.

Ryland took a moment to just look at your pretty cunt, seeing how there was a glisten under the light, showing him just how aroused he had made you. “Got this wet from just me sucking on your chest a little, honey?” he questioned, teasing you a little, only to be met with a glare of your eye, and an annoyed sound of a groan of ‘Ryland’.

‘Okay, okay, I’m sorry,” he apologized, without much meaning to it, not long before he had your legs propped up on his broad and beefy shoulders, his tongue poking out to lick a strip of skin along the side of your thigh, giving you and angeled look of intent through his glasses. And you swear that you might as well have just cum right then and there, because he had no reason to look so fucking hot doing such a mindless action with his fluffy and tousled hair.

He continued to pursue kisses down the side of your inner thigh, stopping just shy of where you really needed him, before switching over to the other one and doing the same. He definitely earned himself a few disgruntled whines from you once again.

“Feeling a little whiney this morning, aren’t we, sweetheart?” he teased once more, his breath fanning above your pretty lips. Just as you were about to finally give him a piece of your mind for making you wait so long, a string of moans of pleasure left your lips, when his mouth finally made contact with your cunt, sucking on the sensitive nerve.

He iterated between the motions of rubbing circles on your clit with his tongue, flicking it in between and sucking on it enticingly, all the while his eyes looked up at you, refusing to take his them from the expressions you were making in your state of ecstasy. He inserted two of his long fingers into you when he heard how close you were getting, pumping them in and out with a consistent but passionate pace, which was finally enough to have you coming undone all over his face, your thighs squirming around his head painting his face with your fluids.

You felt his tongue gliding against your pussy, cleaning up all of your juices, before getting up to pressing his hard and covered cock against your pelvis. He just waited there, seeing your naked chest rise and fall, trying to stabilize your ragged breathing which was the result of what you had just experienced. When you were finally ready, your eyes looked up at him, and he took this opportunity to start to take off the shirt he still had on, but he did this ever so slowly, giving you a show as he was feeling a little smug from the affect he had on you, reflected by the smile rested on his lips. Along the way, he also got rid of his pajama pants, finally revealing himself bare to you, and you could see eye to eye how hard he had truly gotten, precum leaking from his tip.

After that, it wasn’t long before you found him buried inside you, going at a loving but also feverish pace, his head pressed against yours, strings of whimpers and moans leaving his mouth, feeling his heavy breathing mingling with your own, as you both chase the high once more. When he felt your cunt tighten around him, as you came once more, it was enough to drive him over the edge, as his lips met yours with a passionate kiss.

Once the both of you had calmed down a little, he finally pulled out of you, leaving a mess behind between your legs, but still refusing to part away from the touch of your body. He warped his arms around your waist, resting his head on your chest, snuggling into you, while your hand instinctively went to tangle into his fluffy, but disheveled blonde hair.

After a few minutes, he lifted his head up, resting his chin on your plush chest, looking at you with literal heart eyes, with the biggest grin on his face. You looked down at him, a smile breaking on your lips, seeing the one that sat on his.

“Morning, are you finally up?” you called out to him, with an ached brow.

“Good morning, honey!”

“And, I will hel-” you began, before getting cut off, a bit rudely in your opinion, by Ryland’s voice, his words making you raise an eyebrow at him in question. 

“You're doing that again,” he commented, his arms moving to cross in front of his chest, from the position on his hips that they had assumed before.  

“Doing what?” 

“Playing with your hand, and pressing the back of your right one to try to alleviate the jittery pain you get when your lacking sleep and fighting back exhaustion," he replied with his very accurate analysis of your habits, his eyes scanning down to your hands, that were in the middle of the exact said motion. 

As your brain registered his words, slightly delayed, because in fact you were truly exhausted, your movements halted mid movement, slowly sneaking your hands out of his sight, setting them behind your back. 

“No-, no, no! That's not true, I am perfectly fine!” you exclaimed, your voice slightly cracking near the end, your lips pressing into a line out of embarrassment, as you looked everywhere but his eyes. 

“I- I just hit my hand, just a tiny bit too hard against one of the fixtures when I was doing maintenance checks in the EVA room,” you told him accompanied by the motion of your hands putting an emphasis on the ‘tiny’, coming up with the excuse on the spot, your voice rising in pitch as you relayed it to him. 

You could already tell by the way he looked at you through a point above his glasses, that sat lower on his nose bridge, and the way his head tilted to the side, almost as if asking you ‘really?’ that you knew he wasn’t buying what you were throwing at him. However, you had also made up your mind, and weren’t planning to back out now, out of whatever this was. 

“It was an accident. I just was a little clumsy, probably cause I feel a little excited since we might have potentially found a way to save earth and Erid, you know,” you said, falling deeper into the web of your own lie, despite knowing that the web already had a big hole in the middle. 

“Oh, I see. But you do seem to have these tiny accidents often in your excited clumsiness, and in the same area too…” he trailed off his words, pretending to be in thought about the peculiar situation you had described. Oh, he wasn’t cutting you any slack, why would he when his very stubborn and only human crew members refused to take the call of rest that their body required. Yes, that is what he told himself  was the reason for why he was pressing on this matter so hard, and there definitely weren’t any personal feelings involved. Well, maybe there were, but he wasn’t ready to confront those just yet. 

Ryland’s gaze softened as he took the time to look at you, while you were busy scanning the lab in an effort to find some way to escape from his conversation. He noticed the way the exhaustion was clear on your face, evident by the dark circles surrounding the rims of your under eyes, your eyelids a little puffy and red. He had noticed the way your eyes would squint when working on a task in order to fight the urge of your eyelids to close. The way you squeeze your thumb against your palm with your fingers to calm the little shakes of your hands. The way you would go to sleep later than him, but be already up before him, working on maintenance tasks around the ship as the engineer on board. He noticed it all. 

When he had once gone to retrieve a pain killer from the medical kit, he found the melatonin gummies half empty. He noticed how over weeks you had shifted to using more powerful sleep medication that was on board, but even that now was starting to lose effectiveness to allow you enough sleep to last through the next awake cycle. 

He had once asked Rocky about it, to which he found his suspicions to be confirmed, when Rocky said your sleep patterns had been quite irregular compared to his own. And how the amount of time you slept for had continued to decrease. He mentioned you would often just end up leaving the room when you would find your frustration with your lack of ability to fall asleep increase, as the hours passed of you just laying on your bed, just with your thoughts and the ambience of the ship's environment. Just quietly roaming the ship, with your headphones on, so as to not disturb him during his sleep. Or more often than not, you would end up in the observation room, looking out into the void that was painted with streaks of stars. 

Ryland had once asked you about it, asking if you were doing okay, and if you were getting enough sleep, politely citing your prolonged grogginess he had noticed on some days. You just waved him off, making some random excuse that you came up with at the moment. He tried to ask you about it a few more times, he didn’t want to pry, but he also wanted to make sure you were okay, and that you knew he was here, if you needed someone to confide in. 

“Honestly, I think I just might need a hug,” he recalls you stating, when he had asked you about it the third time amidst a casual conversation. He recalls the way your lips formed into a little pout, looking at him with awaiting eyes to see how he would react. Ready to jump into his arms if he would let you, but also ready to play it off as a joke if you had sensed any signs of discomfort from his side. But he hugged you, he did feel a little shy at first, but he thought maybe it might actually help you, maybe that was what you needed – the touch and comfort of another human. And just maybe, that was what he was needing all along as well. 

However, it did end up becoming the perfect excuse for you to use, because whenever he questioned you about your lack of sleep that was reflected in a shift in your routinely habits, or the way your body seemed to be falling into a deeper state of exhaustion, you would just ask him for a hug. Assuring him that was all you needed. Though he would never admit it, his selfish self was starting to look forward to those hugs as well, and at times of his own frustration, wanting to walk up to you and ask for one himself. 

Ryland still recalls the first time he met you, well at least the first time he met you on the ship. “Eye movement detected” he had heard the ship's automated voice ring through the ship. He recalls the excitement that had bubbled up inside of him. The only other human being on board with him had finally decided to break free of their slumber. Even though it was quite a bit after him, nevertheless he was just happy that you were awake and that he had someone by his side. He had left what he was doing in the lab, and literally sprinted, tumbling and all on the way to where you were in the ship. 

By the time he made it inside the room, rubbing his head that he had bumped against the wall on his way, you were already crouched up against the wall, trying to stay away from the robotics arms that were trying to reach you. You looked up at him, squinting your eyes trying to get a clear image of him before you, trying to adjust to the lights after being in a coma for so long, before you called his name. “Dr. Grace.” 

It was clear that you remembered, a lot more than him. When he shared that his own memories weren’t as intact as yours, you seemed to have fallen silent, receding yourself into your own bubble. You didn’t talk to him much during those initial few days, and frankly he was a little disappointed, but he also understood that you need the time to adjust and make sense of the situation that you both were in. But when you finally emerged from your little bubble, your attitude and personality was contrasting to what he had observed and his very own. 

You had the personality of what they would call bubbly. Very energetic and determined. You were always doing something around the ship, revising on all the manuals, taking the initiative to make sure the ship was working correctly at all times as the engineer, always motivating him when he himself would be feeling down, providing solutions and a ‘can do’ attitude to whatever came your way. 

In all honesty, Ryland really enjoyed your company, always supporting him in whatever idea he came up with, but also sounding a voice of reason when he might be going down a slippery slope, and most of all, playing into his own sense of humor. Often making him wonder about your dynamic back on earth. You frankly didn’t share much with him, because you were worried that it would put unnecessary strain on his brain if you shared all with him at once, at least that's what you told him was the reason. So instead, whenever he would recall some of his memories, he would share it with you, and you would provide insight here and there, where you thought it was necessary. He did find it quite frustrating at times, leading to an argument between you both at one point, but he eventually understood that you had your own reason for not being fully open with him. 

He also found himself pondering on the thought about how you were always so enthusiastic on the thought of saving earth whenever you guys would get closer to the goals. He had once asked you the question about what if they didn’t succeed in the goal that they were sent here for, but you just said there would be nothing but success. He attributed your response to your derminted nature. He had also attributed your indifference to the part where this was a suicide mission as part of your nature. But he realizes now that he had been wrong, that maybe your energetic and almost playful persona might have been your way to cope with the situation you had found yourself to be in. You were struggling. Struggling in your own way, struggling with your own stresses, anxiety and thoughts, that was manifesting through insomnia. 

Where he was struggling with the thoughts of not knowing, you were struggling with the thoughts of knowing too much. 

“You know what Dr. Grace, I just think I need a hug,” he heard, your voice breaking him out of his train of thought. He focused on you again, seeing your lips forming a pout, your eyes shining like that of a pleading puppy, arms extended outwards. You started to step towards him, expecting this interaction to follow the routine procedure, but you halted as soon as you saw the soft shake of his head. 

“Nope, not working this time,” he declared, determined to not fall for it this time, fighting the urge to hold you in his arms using the hug you were requesting as an excuse. 

Ryland called out your name, very gentle and soft, the way you would call out to a kid you're trying to console them after they got refused their favourite treat. Your pout now turned into a small frown, almost feeling a little uneasy, because you knew that if he started to act like this, you won’t be able to fight back. 

“Whattt,” you groaned.

“I swear I did sleep. In fact, I slept like a baby, right Rocky?” you call out, turning to the Eridian that sat in his little bubble enclosure, working on the chain needed to fish samples from the exoplanet in Tau Ceti’s orbit. You give him a small wink of the eyes, like he could see it and would understand what it meant. Honestly, you were just hoping to find some way out of this conversation with Grace. 

“Rocky don’t know how human baby sleep,” Rocky stated, earning him a little snicker from Grace, causing you to look back at him with a glare, before turning back to Rocky as he began to speak again. 

“(Last Name), move move move, only sleep for 7728 seconds of the 28800” 

You let out a long exasperated groan, “Rock, we talked about this.” You had in fact asked him to keep you sleeping pattern he observed when watching over you and Ryland slept a secret, but you knew that Rocky clearly hadn’t received the memo.

“Grumpy. Angry. Lack of sleep affecting (last name),”

You threw your hands, giving up the conversation and using rocky as a means to escape, mumbling a ‘nevermind’. You took a deep breath, before turning to look at Ryland again, seeing him leaning against the lab table, hands at his side, a light hold on the edge of the surface. 

“Dr. Grace, I am perfectly fine, I swear, and you know what will make me feel even better? If you let me help you with the experiments, so shall we continue,” you said walking over to the side, where you had been, going to grab at the control of the console. 

But before you could, Ryland slid his body to the side, right in time to block your access. Maybe it was a bit of a miscalculation on his end, because now you were right in front of him, barely an inch between your bodies. You looked up at him with an intensity behind your eyes, your brows furrowed in frustration, as you crossed your arms in front of your body, your forearms now pushing against his hard and toned torso. Clearly signaling to him that you weren’t going to listen to him, so he better back off. 

“(Last name) look mad, mad mad mad, Grace in trouble, question?”

Grace swallowed the dryness away from his throat, for a moment he was going to back off, and let you have this win, and try to talk to you about this again, later, but seeing from this close, the tiredness was even more evident, so he couldn’t let this go now. 

“You do really need to sleep, you can’t keep going on like this,” he says, very softly, and pleading to you with his eyes, just for your sake. Maybe you were a little angry, or maybe the lack of sleep was truly starting to fuck with you brain, beacuse the softenness in his voice didn’t seem to reach your ears, instead you pushed further. 

“Stop going all teacher mode on me, Mr. Grace” you voiced though gritted teeth. 

“Then stop acting as a stubborn middle schooler,” he shot back, his voice raising a little. 

At that, you finally decided to back off and just listen cause you didn’t want to be a nuance when everyone was just looking out for you. You sighed, mumbling a little ‘sorry’, taking a step back, and in that motion Grace decided to take the initiative to turn you around, his hands pressed against your back, gently pushing you towards the door. 

“Dr. Grace,” you whined, but let him push you towards the door, without much physical resistance, cause maybe the exhaustion was starting to catch up with your body now as well. 

“Ryland!”

“Ry-Ry!”

“Rocky!” You called out to the alien who had continued to watch this whole fiasco from his enclosure, your elevated voice caused the alien to get up from his spot in a worry, thinking you and grace were seriously fighting. “Rocky, help, I'm being kidnapped,” you called. You think your brain is seriously starting to become mush from the lack of sleep. 

“What is kid-nap, question?” the computerized voice rang through the lab, rocky skittering in place, unsure what to do. 

“Rocky, don’t worry, I am just going to put (your name) to sleep, I will be back in 10 minutes,” Ryland called out, closing the lab door behind him, as your bodies exited the space. At this point, you had fully given up, now walking yourself to the sleeping quarters, Ryland trailing behind you. 

You propped yourself up on the narrower side of the bed, letting yourself fall to the soft bedding, your back hitting the surface with a light plop sound, resting your forearm on top of your eyes, shielding them from the artificial light of the space, letting your eyes close. 

It was quiet. And for you that was suffocating, because that was what had been playing a part in your struggles with sleep. The near silence felt as the darkness of the void that surrounded you  had broken through some crack in the ship, surrounding you in endless emptiness, left only with the never ending pit of your thoughts that brought up unwanted emotions. You wanted to sleep, you were extremely tired, tired from all the thoughts that played into your minds, thoughts from your life on earth, all the achievements and regrets, the moments of happiness and sadness, thoughts of all the people you love, and even the ones not so much, refusing to let your brain be quiet. 

And you felt so stupid, this stuff didn’t matter anymore, you had to save not just earth now, but also Erid, you didn’t have the time to delve into these useless thoughts. These thoughts kept your brain occupied, stripping you of the privilege of a proper sleep. And this lack of sleep was truly getting in the way of things now. You have been doing extra tasks around the ships, just occupying yourself with whatever you can in order to tire yourself out so that your brain would listen to the pleas of its body and let it rest, all while preparing to go fishing. You will be piloting the spacecraft when on the mission to receive the samples of life from the planet’s atmosphere, and you are afraid that your body's exhaustion will cost you, at a time you can not afford to make any mistakes, because so much depends on it. The lives of those on Erid, Earth, and even the lives of those now most dear to you, Rocky and … Ryland. 

Ryland’s sweet voice, laced with evident concern for your well being, broke through the darkness that was starting to consume you once more. It was a call of your name, helping pull you out of your own void, forcing you to open your eyes. You just laid there for a moment, taking a few deep breaths, trying to regulate your breathing that had started to become staggering without you even realizing. 

You could hear the sounds of Ryland’s breathing, feel the warmth radiating from his body against your legs. He was standing much closer now, just a few steps back from the bed. You forced yourself to get up, your legs dangling off the bed, as you looked up to meet Ryland’s eyes, which expressed everything he wanted to say through his words. None of you spoke for a few moments, letting the silence linger in the space between  you. A silence that was usually daunting to you, wasn’t as much so today, because right now, there was a comforting pair of blue eyes present to look after you

“Is everything okay?”

He was the first to break the spell of silence. His voice was gentle, as if honey to the ears, but also cautious as to not cross any boundary that you might not allow him past. He watched as a frown appeared to set on your features, making him feel a little panicked. 

“No, no- I,” Ryland pauses for a moment, taking a deep breath to collect himself. 

“Hey, I know you have been struggling with falling a sleep, something has been bothering you deep down, and I understand you might not want to share it with me, but,” he pauses, seeing the tearings starting roll over the bay of your eyes, rolling down your cheeks as they fall to your lap, as the corners of your mouth twitch a little, as you fight the urge to break out into a proper sob. It aches his heart to see you like this, but he continues, stepping a little closer, his thighs slightly brushing against your knees, bending a little to be eye level with you, putting his hands on his knees. 

“I’m here. I’m here for you, whatever you might need, or even if you want someone to talk to, I am here,” he finished, giving you a soft smile. At this point you were already sobbing, his words, his smile and his warm eyes were just so comforting that you just couldn’t help but cry. 

Ryland stepped even closer, his arm reaching out to you, pulling your head to rest against his torso, rubbing one hand on your head in a soothing motion, while holding on to your hand that now gripped his shirt in effort to ground yourself. You wanted to let yourself get lost in his warmth and comfort he was providing you, but the guilt stopped you from letting yourself fully indulge. The guilt of knowing what happened to him on Earth. The guilt of knowing that he was likely sent on this mission against his will. The guilt that you knew, but didn’t have it in you to tell him the truth. Would he still comfort you like this if he knew? If he knew what you had kept from him? You weren’t fully sure. 

He called out to you again, his voice breaking through the clouded thoughts. You didn’t reply to him, but he knew you were listening by the way your grip on his shirt tightened. “I know how much this all means to you, this whole mission. And I know you have been working extra hard these past couple of days, pushing yourself over your limit,” he acknowledged, continuing to rub soothingly on your head, while his other hand squeezed yours more tightly. “But, I need you to rest, sleep when your body allows you to. Yea?”

You shook your head to let him know that you understood what he was trying to say, snuggling a little closer into his chest, both of your arms warping around his waist, because you weren't ready to let go, just yet. He waited for you to fully calm down, letting you embrace him to seek your own comfort, which he found his happiness in. 

Once your crying had finally stopped, the dry tears staining your cheeks, feeling calmed down enough you pulled away from Ryland. However, you refused to look him in the eyes, instead focusing your attention to your hands in your palms instead, because you were feeling a little embarrassed for this whole situation and for making a mess of his shirt with your tears. 

“Sorry, I made a mess of your shirt, you can give it to me and I'll clean it for you,” you said, apologizing for what you had done. He shook his head, which you couldn’t fully see because you still refused to look at him. “Are you feeling better now?” he questioned, to which you replied with a small yes. 

“Well, that's good. Then you can make a mess of my shirt whenever you like if it helps you calm down,”  he assured, but wait that didn't sound right, it came out way worse than he had meant it to. Oh, he needed to quickly clarify what he had meant. As his brain was thinking of the right way to rectify, your laugh made its way to his ears, and that instantly made his brian to stop working for a moment. It had been a while since he had last heard you laugh, hearing it now instantly made a smile to appear on his lips. 

“Okay, get some rest now,” he said, ruffling your hair a little in an affectionate manner. As he was about to turn around to leave the space, you grabbed his wrist, making him halt mid movement. He turned to you to see that you were finally looking at him again, eyes still a little glossy from your little cry session earlier. 

“Can’t you sleep with me?”

His body froze. Okay, maybe his own state of exhaustion was starting to catch up to him as well cause he was starting to hear things now. But the expression that he saw on your face, matching his with your wide eyes and arched brows, confirmed that he in fact heard you correctly. A shade of red crept up his face, a very loud visual of his fluster state. 

You instantly let go of his wrist, when your own brain processed what had come out of your mouth. You were starting to think that your brain had become soup at this point from the lack of sleep, and left your body with the flow of your tears. What the fudge did just say to him!   

“Wait, Wait! That's not what I meant,” you started frantically shaking your hands in front of you. “What I meant to ask was, if you would keep me company,” you tried to clarify, regretting even thinking of asking in the first place. 

“Um-”

“I’m so sorry, please just forget what I said,” you requested, the embarrassment wanting you to eject yourself out of the air lock. You erratically shifted to pull your legs onto the bed, laying yourself down, and fully hiding yourself under your blanket, trying to avoid Ryland’s eyes. “I’ll try to get some sleep, now” you exclaimed from under the piece of fabric you had hid yourself under. 

You heard nothing in response, not even the sound of him leaving the room. He was still there, unbeknownst to you that he was fighting his inner self on what to do, because the selfish side of him wanted to jump to your side and embrace you in his arms, but the rational side of him thought the best option would be for him to leave and let you rest.

It was perfectly still for a moment before you heard the shuffling of Ryland's feet, which seemed to be moving closer rather than heading for the door, before they came to a standstill as you felt his presence near the bed. You peek your head out of the blanket to see him standing near the bedside. 

“Okay,” he says. 

“Okay?” You ask, a little confused. 

“i’ll keep you company, until you fall asleep. I mean, I need a little break as well anyway?” he replied, finding a reason to stay, a lazy smile tugging at his lips, causing a little grin to break onto your lips, as you adjusted to give him space on this already small twin bed. 

Ryland found himself  laying next to you, his arms folded under his head, to put as much physical space between your bodies as possible, to be courteous of your personal space and again, to not cross any boundaries you may not want him crossing. He looked at the ceiling, as did you, only the sounds of your breathing intermingling, the buzzing of the Hail Mary filling the space between you. 

Ryland felt you turn to your side, facing him, feeling your gaze on him, as you just admired his beautiful side profile for a few moments. He felt your arm drape around his torso, causing his body to go stiff. You waited. Waited for him to push your hand away, but he didn’t. Instead, he  unfolded one of his arms, and laid it out straight in the space on the bed, right above where your head was. And you took this as an invitation to shift closer, to bury yourself to the side of his toned body, resting your head on his bicep. 

You could feel his heartbeat, drumming through your ear. It was a little elevated at first, due to your sudden proximity, but as you both settled in, finding comfort in each other's warmth, your heart beats started to slow, your breathing finding a common rhythm as the spell of sleep started to wash over. 

“Ry” you called out to him in a gentle whisper, as to not wake him up had he already fallen under the spell, looking up at him. You heard a little ‘hmm’ from him, as his droopy eyes looked down at you, a sleepy smile resting on his lips. 

“Thank you”

He just gave you a loving smile in response to your words, before he whispered a ‘go to sleep’, shifting his eyes back to look at the metal ceiling. At that, you snuggled yourself closer, if that was even even possible, before finally closing your eyes. It was quiet, but it wasn’t so suffocating when you were in his arms, by his side. Your brain at last let itself shut off, allowing your body the much needed sleep. But that wasn’t before you felt Grace’s hand gently playing with your hair, helping your body lull itself to sleep. . 

At some point, your body awoke for a few moments, and you realized that Grace had joined you in much needed slumber. His hand that was under his head, now wrapped around you causing you to smile against his chest before your body fell back to sleep. 

Ryland peaked from behind his fingers, his eyes set on your figure as you were busy preparing bowls of different coloured frosting for the sugar cookies in your next batch. Your hair was tucked behind your ears, wearing one of his oversized science pun shirts, body lightly swaying to the music that played from your headphones that you put on in courtesy as not to distract him from his work.

Gosh, he was so in love with you. You were the biggest sweetheart he had ever met. During the early years of you both being together, he had once mentioned that he wanted to do something special for his students at the end of the school year. It was a thought in the passing, but you remembered and came back with the idea of baking cookies for all your students as a ‘well done’ reward for finishing the school year, and since then it has become an yearly tradition for this time of the year. Each year, you would ask Grace to put a bonus question on one of his tests about the kid’s favourite type of cookie, and make a bunch from those for the last week of school. Initially, Ryland tried to help out with the baking aspect, however, it was evident pretty quickly that the skill wasn’t part of his forte. So, instead you baked extra batches of sugar cookies he could help to decorate to make sure he had a part in the process.

His hand moved to where his head rested against his palm, leaning into his arm. He sat there, a smile on his lips, captivated by your presence, your whole being, just finding joy in admiring you in your element. He felt as the luckiest person on earth to have married you. As he gazed at you, with literal hearts in his eyes, he noticed your eyes shift towards him, having felt his stare on yourself. He noticed the gentle smile that instantly tugged towards the corner of your lips, your eyebrow playfully arching with a playful expression of ‘what’.

He just continued to look at you for a moment, holding your gaze with his, before he mouthed you an ‘I love you.’ The smile on his lips widened when you replied with a ‘I love you more.’ He couldn’t hold himself anymore. He had this sudden urge to hold you, have you in his arms, be as close to you as possible. He suddenly got up from the high stool chair he sat on, almost knowing it over, but catching it just in time. Before turning the corner of the kitchen island, in a hurry that seemed as if he was missing a train, before literally crashing into you and wrapping his arms tightly around you, resting his chin on your shoulder. This earned him a laugh from you, feeling it through your body as he held you, causing him to smile against your shoulder.

For a few moments, he just held you in his arms, leaning the side of his head against your, gently swaying your bodies to the music that leaked from your headphones, as you finished making the frosting for the sugar cookies. You grabbed a clean spoon, dipped it into the bowl and brought it up to Ryland for him to taste. He poked out his tongue, and took a little lick. In the process, he noticed the little amount of frosting that had gotten on to your fingers, leading to a little mischievous idea to play in his mind.

The hand that had sat against your tummy, came up to grab the spoon out of yours, still enclosing you in his embrace, while the other took a hold of your wrist, his thumb pressing into the curve of your palm. He brought your hand to his mouth, gliding his tongue along the side of your pinky, in a slow and deliberate motion, licking up any stray frosting in the way. He then turned his attention to the crevices between your fingers. There was no frosting there, he was just doing this out of his own greed now, licking between the spaces while looking up at you, as your own eyes gazed intently at his action.

After a few moments, he retrieved slightly, a small string of saliva making a path connecting from his bottom lip to your hand, breaking when he leaned in to place a kiss on your palm, just below your fingers. Your breath staggered for a moment, which he noticed as it made him grin against your palm.

Oh, he was having too much fun with this.

You pulled your hand out of grip, giving him a light glare. You grabbed the spoon back from him and finished the frosting that he hadn’t, maybe just ever so slowly, giving the spoon deliberate long licks. His eyes were locked on your lips, on the way they part just enough let your tongue slip out to lick the frost, noticing the way some smudged on your lips. The visual just sent blood rushing through his body, a small flush starting to appear on his cheeks, as his ears started to turn red.

In a swift movement, he had you turn around, his hands on either side of your body, gripping the edge of the kitchen island, his lips meeting yours with desperation that had built up in him. Your one arm wrapped around his shoulder, while your other hand gripped his bicep, in an effort to ground yourself as you melted into his kiss, the sweetness of the frosting remnant between the exchange.

The kiss broke, as you both parted to catch your breath, his eyes meeting yours with the look of someone so hopelessly in love (which he totally was), a beaming smile on his lips. He began to lean in for another kiss, just as the sound of the timer for the cookies rang through the space, and before his lips could meet yours, you pressed your fingers against his mouth.

“The cookies are done,” you voiced the obvious, prying out of Ryland’s hold and walking to the oven that was behind him. A whine left your husband's mouth, missing your presence against his. You heard his frustrated ‘honey’ from behind you‘, as he leaned against the island, crossing his arms in front of his chest, brows furrowed as his eyes followed your movements. You grabbed an oven mitten, taking out the two trays of cookies and placing them on top of the stove, replacing the empty oven with the two new trays of cookie dough you had already prepared.

You turned around, having put in the new batch, to see Ryalnd’s eyes locked onto you, a frown apparent on his features, while his blue eyes looked at you with intent and a slight plea behind them. You cross your arms in front of your chest as well, imitating his pose. Both of you just stood there looking into each other’s eyes.

“Did I ever tell you how much I love you?” He broke the silence first with his question.

“Well yes, you have, in fact you do quite often,” you rebutted.

“Have I ever shown you how much I love you?”

Before you could answer, he began talking once more, “actually, I don’t think I show you enough,” he exclaimed, answering the question himself.

“You’ll let me show you how much I love you, right? Honey?”

How could you resist him, when your husband looked all hot like that. You pretended to ponder on the question, looking behind you at the clock on the oven. You walked over to him, propping yourself onto the counter and pulling himself between your legs, wrapping your arms around his neck.

“We do have fifteen minutes before the next batch finishes, so-” before you could even finish, his lips were already on you.

“I love you!”

Your husband was no less than his daughter. After her birth, Ryland was always determined to finish his work as soon as possible so that he could come home to spend more time with his daughter. If there was anything that he couldn’t get done, he would just bring it home, insisting that he will finish it while watching over her, while you rest, which often ended up with him scrambling to finish it late in the night after she had fallen asleep. You would often glance over from the kitchen, to find your husband taking part in one of her plays for the day. Or her sitting on his chest, capturing his full attention as she rambled on in her jumbled vocabulary of a few human words with heavy baby talk, going on about stuff that barely had any meaning behind it.

Whenever you saw them together, it made your heart melt. You had dreamed of moments like these, imagining what it would be like to have mini versions of both of you running around your home, knowing what an amazing father Ryland would be. The image of him holding her for the first time still sat on your bed stand.

“Dada’s in the bathroom, baby” and with that her small feet were already waddling their way towards the bathroom, her fluffy blonde hair bouncing against her head with each step she took towards her destination with determination. You shook your head with a small smile, going back to cutting fruit for her. All those months of keeping her inside you, for only to come out as a complete replica of her dad, you weren’t complaining though, they both were quite cute.

You could hear her tiny call to her dad outside the bathroom door, followed by Ryland's “coming sweetheart,” before the creak of the door opening. However, the moment didn’t last long, before your daughter came running to you, screaming and crying. You quickly moved the plate of fruit and the knife out of the way before she got in between your legs, hugging your neck tightly, your arms wrapping around her instinctively.

“What’s wrong?” you questioned, but didn't have to wait for her to answer as you looked up to see your husband, wearing just a pair of old gray sweatpants and freshly clean shaved face, walking towards you both with worry evident before his pretty blue eyes. Ryland came and kneeled beside your figure, gazing at his daughter with clear concern as to why she ran like that from her favourite person in the whole world, before they turned to you, hearing you let a small laugh leave your lips.

“Honey, it’s okay,” you cooed as you rubbed her back, still held within your arms. Ryland glanced between your daughter and you, brows furrowed, as he looked like a lost puppy, asking you for an answer for what was happening. You just shook your head with a sheepish smile as you continued to sooth your daughter's back who was still crying in your arms.

Having gotten no response, Ryland placed a gentle hand to her back, slightly above your as well, while his other tapped against her arm that was still warped around your neck, in an effort to have her look at him. “Sweatheart, what’s going on, can you please tell da-da as well?”

At that, your daughter lightened her hold around you, and pushed back to look at Ryland, only to whip her head back to where it was against your shoulder, her arms wrapped around even more securely. You glanced at your husband, noticing the panic starting to set into his feature, but you decided to give a little calm, as the realization hit him with your next statement to your daughter.

“Honey, it’s dad, he just shaved his beard,” you told your daughter. Ryalnd had been busy in the last few weeks to up keep his trimmed beard that he supported so often, mostly do to extra work with trying to finish report cards on time and spending the resting of the time indulging to your but most importantly his daughter’s needs of having to play princess tea party with her dad. Ryland’s eyes went wide, coming to terms with the fact that his little daughter had never seen him with a fully shaved face, since the time she had started becoming conscious of her surroundings.

Your daughter pulled back, looking at Ryland with tear filled eyes, before looking at you, as her little finger pointed in an accusatory manner at her dad. “No! That’s not my da-da,” she spoke, with pouted lips. “Honey, it's him.”

“Yes! Sweetheart, look! It's me, dada,” Ryland exclaimed, his hands reaching to try to gently grab a hold of her little hand, but before he could, she quickly took them out of his reach, and placed them back around your neck. “No. No, No,” she huffed.

Ryland looked at you with pleading eyes, asking you to help him out. However, instead of doing that, you just reached your hand to pat off the few stray hairs that were still clinging to his chest, before shrugging your shoulders and giving him a little pout that imitated the one that is currently on his and your daughter’s features. Though the distance and the unfamiliarity didn’t last long, before you knew it, you glanced out of the kitchen to see them having their daily tea party, with Ryland wearing a little tiara above his messy blonde hair and the little tu-tu that your daughter insisted her precious da-da to wear.