Archive of Our Own

Edward Nashton had fallen in love and there was nothing he could do about it.

He wasn’t sure in the beginning, he had never felt like this before. Sure, there had been the occasional crush on a coworker, or someone who took the subway at the same times he did. And, sure, he had always been quite obsessive about them.

But he was obsessed with anything he liked, if he thought about it. He couldn’t remember ever liking something a normal amount. If he enjoyed something, he knew he would develop an obsession at some point.

His first obsession was rats. Back at the orphanage he would always try to pick them up and train them to sit on his shoulder. (It had only been mildly successful.) He also stayed up all night, reading about rats and memorizing facts about them. The moment he moved into his first apartment, he got pet rats. He couldn’t imagine his life without them anymore. They kept him company and mostly sane.

Then later came crime. He still had this one. He would study Gotham’s crime rates, trying to analyze them. He would also cut articles about crimes he found interesting out of the newspaper and tape them to his wall. He was convinced he could solve most of them, if he tried and someone let him.

His infatuation with numbers and patterns of course, had been there his whole life.

And then his crushes. He had spent whole nights, trying to fall asleep to the thought of them holding him. Imagining what it would be like, if they liked him back.

But this time it felt different. It felt more real, less superficial. Less made up.

A big factor in this circumstance was probably that his crush actually acknowledged his existence this time.

It had been a night, just like this one. A mild summer night, barely cool enough to wear a thin jacket. And that’s how he found him. When he stepped into the bar, let his gaze wander and his eyes got caught on a stranger.

His stranger.

He was wearing a thick puffer jacket and a scarf, that had been pulled over his mouth and nose. Long pants, tucked in big, clunky boots. His brown hair was shaggy and looked greasy in the dim light of the bar the stranger sat at, hunched over an empty glass he was cradling. Not being recognized seemed to be more important to him, than being comfortable. Then why was he here?

Edward was wondering what this stranger could possibly have to hide under all those layers, when the man turned his face towards him and Edward froze. Later he couldn’t exactly say why. He didn’t know what had happened. But seeing the man’s eyes struck him like lightning. An electronic shock had run through his whole body and driven a thousand thoughts through his head.

Questions. Who was he? What did his voice sound like? What would his hand feel like when he held it between his own? Fantasies about making out in the dirty bathroom of this bar, later laying under him, this force of nature, and being able to touch his skin. Ideas. He could go talk to him? Sit down on the free seat next to the stranger and start a conversation?

In what had felt like only a fraction of a second later, the stranger had already turned his face away again. He was wearing dark eyeshadow around his eyes.

Edward blinked. He was still feeling the aftershocks of the lightning going through him. His knees felt weak and he needed to sit down and have a drink.

On this mild summer night, Edward was on his way to the very same bar he met his stranger at.

“Will I see you again?”, he had asked him that very first time.

His stranger had smiled. It was hard to make out under all the paint, but he could see it in his eyes.

“If you look for me”, he said teasingly.

If you look for me. That's when Edward had fallen. Hard.

This stranger, who had talked to him for no more than 10 minutes, had made him feel like he was in a Rom-Com. Edward had never before felt like he was in a Rom-Com. That’s not what his life was supposed to be like. His life was supposed to be a sad drama or a murder mystery with him being the victim, not a cheesy sappy Rom-Com.

It was infuriating, really. And Edward loved it. It made him feel giddy and tingly overall, and sometimes he was smiling and blushing at work because he was thinking about his stranger. With his stupid pretty hair and this voice that could melt Edward’s eardrums. How he was so secretive about his life but so honest about what was on his mind. He wouldn’t even tell Edward his name. But he had told him about how he struggled with responsibility, how he didn’t sleep well. And the way he talked. Just talked. God. The subject didn’t matter, Edward would have listened for hours.

The bar came into view and Edward’s stomach twirled in excitement. It was a good 15 minute walk away from where he lived but he liked it there. They always played good music. And of course, it was the place where he had met his stranger.

He was still meeting him there. At least twice a week. They always agreed at the end of their meetup when to meet up next. When they hugged tightly and slowly and his stranger sometimes put a hand in his hair.

Edward shuddered and pushed the door open. The smell of beer and cigarette smoke hit him the moment he set foot on the sticky wooden floor. His gaze immediately started to wander, in search of his stranger. He smiled when he found him. He was leaning against a shelf in the corner of the room, as if trying to blend in with the dark. The same paint and scarf in his face as usual. But he was wearing a different jacket this time. A thinner one.

Slowly Edward was pushing through the crowd to get to his stranger, not taking his eyes off him. (Being taller than most people had its perks!) He was already so close when his stranger finally looked in his direction. Edward smiled, as he took the last few steps to be able to reach him.

“Did you miss me?”, he asked in a teasing tone, as soon as he was close enough for him to hear it. “Of course I missed you, Edward”, said his stranger and pulled him in a tight hug. Edward almost melted into him. He loved hearing him say his name. And they both knew that he hadn’t been teasing. The stranger’s answer sounded so sincere, it almost made Edward cry. No one had ever missed him before.

Edward swallowed. “I missed you too” His voice sounded raspy. He wanted to say his stranger’s name too, but he didn’t know it yet. He leaned more into his strong body and closed his eyes. He really liked this. Physical contact. Being close to someone.

They stayed like this for a few moments until the stranger's grip loosened and Edward leaned against the wall to his left. Their feet were touching and they were close enough to hold hands. The thought of that made Edward feel dizzy. When he looked up again, his stranger’s eyes were already on him.

“Did you drink enough water today?” Edward was so surprised, he couldn’t suppress an amused chuckle. “Yes, I did. What about you? Did you have your eight tall glasses?”

“Yeah, sure. My, uhm…my roommate keeps reminding me.”

Edwards' smile faltered and his stomach dropped. His stranger had a roommate? This was the first time he mentioned them. Was there a reason he had never talked about them before? Was the roommate maybe more than just a roommate? A partner maybe? Was Edward the “second person”? Or did he just misread everything so badly and they weren’t even headed down that path? Purely platonic. Just friends.

The stranger seemed to sense Edward’s panic and hastily added: “He’s more of a father-figure for me, than a roommate. He’s a lot older than me, actually.” He reached out and put his hand on Edward’s forearm. He gently encircled it with his warm fingers, as if attempting to ground Edward. It worked.

Edward looked down at his hand for a moment, trying to get his brain on the right track again. He was always overthinking. Even if there wasn’t anything to overthink, he would find a way. It was genuinely tiring.

He slowly reached for his stranger’s forearm to gently squeeze it and looked up to face him. Those blue eyes were already on him, looking slightly worried. Edward smiled apologetically.

“You never mentioned him before”, he said, trying to distract from the thing his brain just did. The stranger started rubbing light circles on Edwards' skin. He looked down at their hands, where they were touching. “It just never came up”

They stood there for a while, in comfortable silence, just feeling each other's presence.

There was so much Edward wanted to say. ‘I want to know more about you. Everything. Why are you still so secretive? Don’t you trust me?’ But he didn’t say any of that. He didn’t want to pressure his stranger. It would only ruin what they already had. And Edward couldn’t lose him, even if their relationship, if you could call it that, was more than questionable. He was already in too deep.

Slowly, he skimmed down his stranger’s forearm he was still holding and began to intertwine their fingers. His stranger made a small pleased “hm”-sound, and Edward’s whole body began to tingle. He was smiling widely and looked up from their hands to his stranger’s face again. The blue eyes seemed to smile right back at him when they met his green ones.

Edward wanted to kiss him so bad. He had never kissed anyone before but he imagined it to feel very nice. Especially with someone he liked. And he liked his stranger so much. He had spent whole nights pondering how many people the stranger might have already kissed in his life. Was he good at it? And what shape did his lips have? Edward didn’t actually care about those things. He was just so eager to know everything about his stranger.

Sometimes he spaced out at work for several minutes at a time, imagining what their kisses would feel like. He really craved this type of contact, this feeling he had never experienced. That he wanted to experience with him.

But Edward thought kissing wasn’t on the table anywhere in the near future. He hadn’t even learned his stranger’s name, let alone seen his face. But that was okay. Edward could wait if that meant they would grow closer.

The stranger shifted his weight so that his shoulder was now leaning against the same wall Edward rested his back at. His shoulder was kind of digging into the stranger's chest.

Edward watched the stranger with a small smile on his face. The stranger placed his forehead against Edward’s temple. “Just wanted to be closer”, he muttered into his ear, as Edward’s eyes fluttered shut. His heart did a little jump and then continued to beat at a faster pace. He squeezed his stranger’s fingers tighter, to show him how much he agreed with that.

His stranger had no idea how much closer Edward wanted to be to him. Or had he? What if he wanted all the same things?

Edward almost flinched at this thought. What if his stranger really did want all the same things that were keeping Edward up at night? What if he thought about him all the same? Was he daydreaming at work too, thinking about their kisses yet to happen? What if…?

Why did this thought feel so new? As if a whole new perspective had opened itself for Edward to explore. And with the stranger pressed against him like a sweet, loved cat, he believed that it maybe could be true.

Slowly, so slowly, he began to raise his free hand. He was almost shaking. His fingertips hesitantly brushed against his stranger’s loose hair, still testing the waters, wondering if it would be okay. The stranger moved his head the slightest bit into the direction of Edward’s hand. The movement would have been almost imperceptible if it wasn’t exactly what Edward had waited for. It was all the confirmation he needed.

He gently pressed his whole palm against his stranger’s hidden cheek. In the rush of courage he also turned his head, so that now both of their foreheads were touching.

The stranger let out a pleased sigh and Edward almost laughed in response. Adrenaline was pumping through his veins. His skin was burning. He had never felt so alive.

This was, no doubt, the bravest thing he had ever done. At least he felt like it was. He was sweating and his heart was about to jump out of his chest. He chuckled in disbelief.

His fucking Rom-Com life.

“Edward?”

“Hm?”

The stranger seemed to lean even more into him.

“Tell me about your day”

Edward chuckled again. “My day?” It had been a normal day. Nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Except him meeting his stranger. But even he was a part of his routine now, in a way.

“I got up at 7. I fed my rats and then I had breakfast”

“What did you have?”

“Cornflakes”

“Sounds good”

They were speaking in hushed voices now. What they were saying was only for the two of them. Even though it was such a mundane topic, their conversation felt oddly intimate.

“Then I walked to work”

“How long does that take you”

“About 40 minutes. But I like it”

“Okay”

“I started working at 9 and worked until 4:30 today”

“Any work-gossip?”

“No one tells me any gossip” Edward played with a strand of his stranger’s hair absentmindedly.

“I would tell you all the gossip”

"Oh, really? So tell me, who has an affair with who? And how ugly is Tiffany's new hairstyle really?”

They both chuckled.

“...no one tells me any gossip either.”

They were quiet for a little while. Edward continued to play with the stranger’s hair and relocated his head to his shoulder. He gently pulled him closer.

The stranger was the first to talk again.

“Please tell me more. I like hearing you talk”

Edward’s heart picked up a faster pace again.

“I walked home and had dinner. Cornflakes again”, he added before his stranger could ask. “Then I fed my rats again and after that I had a shower”

“You showered for me?”

“Of course”

“That’s why you smell so nice” The stranger slightly lifted his head from Edward’s shoulder and pressed his clothed nose into the crook of his neck. Edward giggled.

They just stood like that for a moment, holding onto each other.

Until the stranger spoke again. It was just a simple sentence, muttered into Edward’s shoulder, which he surely hadn’t put much thought into.

“I wish I could meet your rats”

And with a similar amount of thought put into his reply, Edward answered, almost out of reflex.

“You could, if you want to”

It was quiet for a few seconds. They both were holding their breath, while they processed the exchange that just happened. The stranger slowly lifted his head from Edward’s shoulder, to look at him. Edward was following his movements with big eyes. Had he fucked it up? He had probably fucked it up. He probably thought it was too soon to-

“Really?”

Edward looked at the stranger as if he had asked him the square root of 2209. At least he could have given him a definite answer to that question, after a little bit of thought. Why was he so bad at communicating?

“If you want to”, was what he settled on. It was vague enough.

“You want me to come to your apartment?”

“Only if you want to”

Slowly, his stranger’s eyes started to smile. He began to nod. And Edward could have died right there. Relief started to wash over him in waves. He squeezed the stranger’s hand extra tight, in fear his knees would give in.

He would see Edward’s place. Was it too messy right now? It was probably fine. When did he last do the dishes? He couldn’t remember. But it was probably fine.

Now that it was about to happen, Edward realized again, how much he craved being closer to his stranger. How much he wanted to talk to him alone. Truly alone, without being surrounded by potential listeners. He didn’t want to wait anymore.

“Do you want to…go now?”

Without missing a beat, his stranger nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah. Yes. Now is good.”

“Yeah. Okay.” Edward smiled and slowly let go of his hand. “Just follow me. Yeah?”

“Yeah”

Edward turned to the exit and went ahead, his stranger following suit. They pushed through the crowd, the same way Edward had entered earlier, until they finally reached the cooler night air. Edward took a deep breath of the air free from cigarette smoke. The asphalt still radiated the heat from the day. Edward felt very comfortable in his thin jacket.

“Which way?”, the stranger asked and took Edward’s hand. They laced their fingers together.

“Just follow me”, Edward answered with a smile and started leading the way.

It felt like there was a hurricane in his stomach. His stranger would see his apartment. He would meet his rats and he would surely ask about the newspapers on the wall. But this he could easily explain, since the stranger already knew about his unconventional ways to spend his free time.

Edward tried to think if he left anything weird out in the open. Did he even own weird things? What did qualify as weird? Were his journals weird? Maybe he should put them away when his strangers attention would be occupied by the rats. Just to be sure.

“It’s a really nice night, isn’t it, Edward?”

“It is”

What else did he own? He had a collection of funny looking buttons on a dresser somewhere. They could probably stay. Then the old greeting cards that he got from garage sales and flea markets. (The sellers always called them “vintage”. Edward thought that was stupid. They were simply old.) The cards should be stored in a drawer of his desk. So they weren’t a problem.

“Edward?”

“Hm?”

“My name is Bruce”

Edward needed a few seconds to process what the stranger had said to him. Then he abruptly jerked to a halt.

The stranger almost walked into him.

“Edward, what-”

“What did you just say?”

“Edward-”

“Say it again. Please.”

The stranger, his stranger, Bruce, took a deep breath.

“My name is Bruce”

A grin, so wide it almost hurt, began to spread over Edward’s face.

“Your name is Bruce”

“My name is Bruce”

“You told me your name!” Edward almost launched himself at Bruce. He let go of his hand, threw his arms around him and hugged him tighter than he ever had before. Bruce was a bit taken aback at first, but hugged Edward just as tight.

“You told me your name…Bruce…” They dreamily swayed from side to side. “And it’s such a pretty name…fits you so well…Bruce…” Edward rambled into Bruce’s shoulder.

Bruce laughed, maybe a tad too loud for the quiet street they were standing in the middle of.

“Bruce…I can finally address you” Bruce laughed again. He pressed his face into Edward’s hair, as if giving him a kiss on the head. Edward was too happy to even register it.

He slowly loosened his tight hug to look at Bruce’s face and smile happily at him. Bruce’s eyes smiled right back.

“Thank you for telling me”

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I don’t even know why i waited this long”

“It doesn’t matter, Bruce. Just thank you” He hugged him closer again. He finally knew his name. Bruce trusted him to know his name.

His stranger had finally lost his unfortunate nickname and with it, a little bit more of the remaining strangeness.

Edward fumbled for his keys to let himself and Bruce into his small apartment. He was still so nervous and Bruce’s hand that was grazing his back didn’t help. He finally managed to open the door.

Bruce stepped in after him and let his gaze wander through the apartment, taking everything in, while Edward anxiously watched him. What if he didn’t like it?

Bruce seemed to have found what he was looking for, as he slowly made his way over to the decently sized rat cage on one of the dressers. Four rats were living in it but Edward was looking into getting a fifth one.

Bruce seemed to smile. “Do they have names?”

“No”, Edward lied. Of course they had names, they were his best friends. But he was too embarrassed to tell.

Bruce turned around to face Edward. “I like your apartment”

“What? It’s messy” Edward sounded slightly flustered now. He shrugged off his jacket and went to open the refrigerator, trying to cover it up.

“It’s comfortably lived in. I can see that it’s your place”, Bruce answered, while he sat down on Edward’s small, scuffed couch.

Edward could feel himself turning a subtle shade of red and quickly shoved his head further in the fridge, looking for he didn’t know what exactly. There wasn’t much left. Three eggs, a few loose bottles of water, a green can of energy drink and a very sad looking lettuce.

“Hey, do you want something to drink? I mean- only if- I mean-” Edward pulled his head out of the fridge and looked at Bruce with big eyes, unsure how to continue. He had immediately realized his mistake.

Bruce couldn’t drink with a scarf over his mouth.

“I’m- uhm, sorry. I mean, you don’t have to-”

“It’s okay. I would really like some water, actually”

Edward grabbed two of the water bottles and hurried over to sit down next to Bruce.

Without his eyes leaving Bruce, he put down the bottles on the floor in front of them, as he watched in awe, how Bruce slowly began to peel the scarf away from his face.

He didn’t recognize him immediately. For the first ten seconds, he was just staring. Almost paralyzed, as a white hot feeling was spreading through his whole body, right to the tips of his toes and fingers. It was similar to the lightning that had struck him all those nights ago. But it felt warmer. It was lingering.

Bruce was beautiful. Stunning.

The most handsome man to ever walk upon this fucked up planet. And that was just a fact, not even Edward’s personal opinion.

Bruce grabbed one of the water bottles from the floor and awkwardly brushed his hair out of his eyes while he took a sip. His eyes darted around the room. He wasn’t looking at Edward, even seemed to try to avoid it.

And slowly, realization started dripping into Edward’s mind.

He had known his stranger all along.

Not in a personal way. It was more like that he knew of him. Because everyone did.

In front of him, sitting in a slightly slumped position and now awkwardly reading the ingredients on the water bottle, was Bruce Wayne. Owner of Wayne Enterprises, the billionaire, The Prince of Gotham, how some even called him. One of the most important men in the city, probably even in America.

And Edward noticed that he couldn’t bring himself to care.

He tried it for a moment, tried being shocked or angry, but nothing happened.

He had never paid much mind to Bruce Wayne before this moment. His opinion had never gotten any more specific than ‘rich guy, probably spoiled and out of touch with the real world’ and he had never cared enough to actually be angry about it. He had his own problems to worry about. But Bruce had proved to him that he wasn’t like that at all.

That next to him, on his old couch, in his shitty apartment, sipping the water he had given him, was still his stranger. His stranger who wanted him to stay hydrated, who held his hands, hugged him so tightly. Who wanted to hear about Edward’s day and thoughts and who told him about his anxieties. He was simply Bruce. Just Bruce. Nothing more and definitely nothing less.

Edward only realized that he was still staring when Bruce finally looked at him. He looked so anxious and so vulnerable that Edward immediately had the urge to apologize. But Bruce beat him to it.

“I’m sorry, Edward”

“No no, Bruce. Hey” Edward scooted over the inches between them and firmly took Bruce’s hand in his. He squeezed it tightly. Bruce was eying the water bottle again, so Edward gently put a hand against his cheek to coax him into turning his face back to him. He felt light stubble under his fingers and absently rubbed them against it.

Bruce blinked a few times. “I’m really sorry. I know it’s a lot to take in. And if it’s too much for you and you don’t want to see me again, I would totally understand.” His voice sounded like it was about to break and Edward was not at all qualified to deal with this situation. He hadn’t seen another person cry in a long time. And that he had actually tried to comfort someone, was even longer ago.

But seeing Bruce like this nearly broke his heart. He tried to turn his face again, more determined this time but still gentle, just in time to see the first tear fall. He immediately wiped it away and got black face paint all over his fingers. It made him smile despite the situation.

“Now listen to me very carefully” He kept his voice low, as if they were still standing in the bar, surrounded by strangers. But it felt so much closer, so much more intimate now. Edward accidentally smeared the paint even more, wiping more tears. “Nothing has changed for me, Bruce. Nothing. Do you understand that?”

Bruce nodded slightly but he now looked tentatively questioning.

“I don’t care about your last name, or how many people know it. I don’t care how many people know your face, if I'm the one you chose to show it to.”

Bruce made a noise between a sob and a laugh, now almost smiling.

“This public persona means nothing to me. The way they think they know you doesn’t matter. Because you showed me how good you are. You are incredible, Bruce. I don’t know what I’d do if I’d suddenly never see you again. And I’m not even sure if I ever felt alive before I met you.”

Edward took a deep breath and carefully leaned his forehead against Bruce’s.

“You make me happier than I’ve ever been before, Bruce Wayne.”

Bruce let go of Edward’s hand just to tightly wrap his arms around him. He pressed himself against every inch of Edward’s body he could touch and hid his face at the crook of his neck.

Edward’s skin was burning. He must have turned red all over, after communicating his feelings so explicitly and Bruce’s reaction being to hold onto him, as if he was all he needed. His lifeline.

Bruce held him as if he was sick and Edward the cure. And maybe that was true.

Not a single sheet of paper would have fit between them. Their hearts beat against each other as if trying to beat the other in a race. Every feeling inside Edward was pure bliss.

He never wanted to move a single inch away from Bruce again. But Bruce did just that. He slowly pulled his head away from Edward’s neck. Edward turned his head to be able to look at Bruce when he complained but then he saw his face and suddenly his head was empty and he had forgotten every word he had ever learned.

He was so close. Bruce’s pupils were blown. So fully blown, you could barely make out the blue in his eyes. His lips were slightly parted and before Edward could notice anything else, they were laying on his own.

He must have gasped. Maybe even jumped. But when he later tried to think back to the moment, he couldn’t even recall if he had closed his eyes.

There was only Bruce. The static noise and his heartbeat loudly in his ears and Bruce. Bruce’s lips against his. Bruce’s hands on him. Bruce’s hair tickling his face. Only Bruce.

Bruce, Bruce, Bruce.

It was so simple, yet so different, than Edward had imagined what a kiss would feel like. Bruce’s lips were touching his. That’s all it was. It wasn’t anything revolutionary but at the same time, completely life changing.

Edward felt dizzy, as he finally pushed his hands into Bruce’s hair and carefully tried to move his lips in sync with Bruce’s. Bruce reacted by almost impossibly tightening his hold around Edward and releasing a short and shaky breath against Edward’s lips, before kissing them again.

When Edward had imagined this situation at night, alone in his bed, he always had imagined his stranger as a sort of Prince Charming figure. In his fantasies, his stranger had kissed a lot of people before him, had become an expert in kissing and was now here to sweep Edward off his feet and suck the air out of his lungs with a single, perfect kiss.

But his reality turned out to be so much better, when Edward realized that Bruce was just as inexperienced as he was. It was very uncoordinated. They couldn’t find a rhythm yet, and were getting into each other's way. Bruce alternated between slightly nipping at Edward’s bottom- or upper lip and awkwardly trying to press closed-mouthed kisses to them, while Edward really just tried to copy him, with no idea what to do. They were in this together. Trying to get the hang of it as a team.

There was a fire burning in Edward, hot and bright, only getting bigger. There was one in Bruce too, he could feel it on his cheeks. He wanted nothing more, than for their two fires to combine and consume them, right at this moment.

Bruce let the tip of his tongue slip between his lips and slightly licked at Edward’s bottom lip. Something bubbled in Edward’s chest and suddenly the whole situation caught up to him.

He was having his first kiss! He was kissing his stranger, he was kissing Bruce on his couch and he was equally as bad at it as Edward. But still, it felt absolutely wonderful.

Edward couldn’t contain himself anymore and laughed. He broke the kiss and laughed and smiled and pulled Bruce into a tight hug again. He felt Bruce grinning against his cheek and he laughed and smiled and everything felt wonderful.

“I was right Bruce, I’m in a Rom-Com”, Edward said and Bruce agreed with him, even though he must have had no idea what Edward was talking about.

They held onto each other for a little longer, just smiling, and stroking and playing with each other's hair until Bruce finally moved away to have a sip of water. His tears and Edward’s fingers had completely destroyed the concealing eye makeup. Edward thought it looked endearing.

“What are you smiling at?”, Bruce asked between two sips and smiled right back at him.

“You need to wash your face” Edward grinned and swiped his thumb at a spot over Bruce’s brow, to wipe some of the paint. Bruce swabbed at his cheekbone and looked at his fingers, to find the black paint on them as well. “Oh, you’re right”

Edward pointed at a door. “That’s the bathroom”

Bruce thanked him and disappeared into the bathroom. Edward waited until he could hear the water run. He let himself fall onto his bed and then touched his hot and probably red cheeks. He was grinning.

This was really happening to him. Just in one night, he had learned his stranger’s name, seen his face and had his first kiss. He wondered what would happen next. Would they do even more? Edward’s cheeks felt even hotter at the thought of what more they could do. He hid his face in his hands and grinned into them, at the thought of being allowed to touch Bruce’s naked body. Now that the scarf was off, he desperately wanted to peel more and more layers off of Bruce.

“Hey Edward?”

Edward jerked up, as if being caught doing something forbidden. His eyes landed on a cleaned up Bruce, who sheepishly smiled at him. Edward smiled right back. He looked so beautiful.

“It’s very late. Would you mind if I slept over?”

Edward nodded frantically and then shook his head with the same intensity.

“Yes! I mean, no! I mean, yes, you can sleep over. No, I don’t mind. Not in the slightest. It would be very nice actually.” Edward smiled awkwardly, when a happy laugh bubbled out of Bruce. He walked over to Edward, who was now sitting on the edge of his bed, and took his face into his hands. “You’re so cute”, he said, before kissing him again.

Edward put his hands on Bruce’s hips and smiled up to him. “Do you want to borrow a shirt? To sleep in?”

“Yes please”

“They’re in the dresser with the rat cage on it. Just take one you like”

They shared one more short kiss, before Bruce opened the dresser to pick a shirt and Edward went to the bathroom to change into his own sleeping clothes. It felt weirdly domestic. He was so excited to share a bed with Bruce, to wake up next to him tomorrow. Maybe they would stay in bed, then share cornflakes and coffee until Edward had to go to work and Bruce would have to leave to take care of his own responsibilities. But how good would it feel, to come home from work and find Bruce in the apartment, waiting for him? To be able to curl up next to him on the couch and talk about their days?

Edward wanted this. He craved it. The domesticity. The intimacy of sharing a space, sharing a life.

‘Maybe one day’, he told himself, before he finished changing and left the bathroom.

Bruce was already sitting on the bed. He was wearing a blue shirt with a print on it, that was so washed-out, you couldn’t recognize it anymore. It was a little big on him, just like on Edward. Edward smiled. He liked that they had similar sizes. It meant they could share clothes.

Bruce was extending his arm, as if reaching for Edward, who was crossing the room and crawling on the bed next to him faster than he could think. Their lips met again, as if acting on their own. There seemed to be a magnetic pull. Bruce was north, Edward south and their only purpose was to attract each other.

Edward gasped when he felt Bruce’s tongue again. He tried to get closer, straddling him in the process, his hands firmly embracing Bruce’s jaw. He had to lean down for Bruce, because he was so much taller in this position.

It was still messy and frantic and they were still inexperienced but Edward began to really enjoy that. He could fully concentrate on all the new impressions. He could experiment with his hand placement, with the movement of his lips, trying to see what would get the best noises out of Bruce, until Bruce slipped a hand under his shirt and Edward’s brain short-circuited.

He broke the kiss and looked down on Bruce, panting. Bruce looked up to him, his eyes big, his hand frozen on the skin of Edward’s lower back.

Edward was almost desperately gasping for air, trying to process the new sensation. Bruce’s warm hand on his naked skin. Bruce’s rough hand on the soft skin of Edward’s back. Bruce’s hand lightly pressing into the skin of Edward’s lower back. Bruce’s hand-

“Don’t stop”, Edward managed to choke out, before wildly attacking Bruce’s lips again. What little coordination they had was gone. Edward was just pressing and licking and dragging his hands all over Bruce’s back and through his hair. Bruce was just as eager, trying to consume Edward whole. He slid a second hand under Edward’s shirt, anchoring them on his waist, before almost gently beginning to stroke them up and down.

Edward’s head was so full and empty at the same time. He couldn’t form a coherent thought. All there was, were their desperate kisses, trying to get even closer and Bruce’s gentle hands in contrast.

Edward’s whole world had reduced itself to Bruce. Everything else stopped existing, there was only Bruce left. Just Bruce.

Bruce, Bruce, Bruce, Bruce, Bruce, Bruce, Bruce.

It took a while for their frantic making out to subside. They were still hugging, sharing occasional lazy kisses, until Edward was almost too tired to move his lips, the exhaustion after the eventful night finally showing.

They had finally laid down and Bruce pulled the blanket over them, making sure that Edward was tucked in comfortably.

“I’m so excited to see you tomorrow”, Edward whispered, barely keeping his eyes open. He smiled when Bruce pressed a kiss to his forehead. They were laying side by side, facing each other. Bruce pulled him in closer.

“Edward?”

“Hm?”

“You make me the happiest I’ve ever been, too”

Edward made a pleased humming sound, too tired to react properly, too tired to feel more, than gentle and comforting contentment.

He shuffled even closer to Bruce, putting his face against his firm chest.

With Bruce’s arms around him and his fingers in his hair, he finally drifted off, into a soothing sleep. Knowing he would wake up tomorrow and everything would be okay.