Chapter Text
Aiden stared at the ceiling in the dark, feeling wide awake despite the late hour. Beside him, Roland was snoring quietly, face turned toward Aiden, one arm draped across his stomach. His lips were red, hair a mess from Aiden's clenching hands. Bite marks littered his neck. Aiden faired no better, his own lips red and slightly chafed from Roland's beard, and scratch mark ran down the length of his back.
The two of them had been lovers for five months now. It was still hard to believe that their relationship had blossomed from a drunken hook-up. The more time they spent together, the harder it was when they were apart. And Roland was due to fly back to America in two days, hence the passionate night. Aiden had already put his green sweater in Roland's suitcase. It had become a kind of security blanket for the American, having a piece of Aiden to take with him, and Roland in turn left his red suit jacket behind for Aiden, since that was the jacket he'd been wearing when they met.
'I wish he didn't have to go,' Aiden thought.
The truth was that every time Roland had to leave, Aiden was secretly afraid that he would revert back to his old habits-drugs, excessive drinking, sleeping with anything that moved.
'He's a grown man, Hoynes,' Aiden thought. 'He can do whatever he wants. It's not like you're married. You're lovers, not husbands.'
Husband. That word had been absent from Aiden's vocabulary for a long time. He glanced at Roland again. Would he want to be married, fully committed to one person for the rest of his life? Aiden wasn't sure. Roland Blum was still a mystery five months later.
"Are you okay?" Roland's sleepy voice broke into Aiden's thoughts.
Aiden jumped and looked over. Roland's eyes were open, watching him, flickers of sleep still swimming in the blue orbs.
"I'm fine, love," Aiden told him quickly. "Just thinking."
Roland hummed and rolled over onto his back, arms open. "Come here, Pretty Boy."
Aiden laughed softly and crawled into Roland's arms, resting his head on his lover's chest. Roland wrapped his arms around Aiden, stroking his hair.
"What were thinking about?" Roland asked after a few minutes.
"Just how much I'm going to miss you when you leave," Aiden answered, though that only part of the truth. He felt a chuckle reverberate through Roland's chest.
"I'll miss you, too, Aiden," he said. "But hopefully I won't be gone long this time."
Aiden smiled and nestled closer. Roland kissed his head. After a minute his chest began to rise and fall as he fell asleep again. Aiden rested his head over Roland's heart, an idea forming in his head as he fell asleep as well.