Too much.
So he did what he did best. “Pretty as they are, I don’t know how to use a candle to get across this. I usually burn bridges, not the other way around.”
“Rook,” Emmrich started, the slightly pained expression puns prompted already crossing his face. It was better than making things weird. Rook was hopeless and he grinned.
“To be honest, I was hoping to make more jokes about it, but there’s a gap in my -”
“Rook,” Emmrich repeated, not usually one to interrupt and there was a certain urgency to his words. Rook would have turned back to him, only it wasn’t his own momentum. Patient hands caught him, spinning his heel in the fade dirt until, abruptly, he knew just how it felt to be pressed fully against Emmrich.
His lips were warm and dry, and the slight rasp of his mustache was new. The familiar scent of his preferred soap, smoky and floral, made Rook’s chest ache. Surprise almost made him squander the moment, a beat of hesitation too long but luckily, his mind didn’t have to catch up for his body to know. Rook wrapped himself around Emmrich, around his shoulders to draw himself to his toes and Emmrich steadied him like instinct, one long arm fitted to his waist. Emmrich’s fingers curled against his side, possessive, and his other hand was in Rook’s hair. Heat seeped through his body, a burning mist that sparked against nerves, bringing excitement to boiling.
Finally.
**Falling Fearless on Ao3
