[ If he were closer—or maybe even from this distance, if By didn't have him by the ankles—Bastien would kiss that smile on each corner. So perhaps it's good that he isn't. Not a secret and naked kissing in common spaces are two very different things.

So he has to be still and only look, and that makes the impulse to move and touch becomes something softer instead. Something that seeps and settles and makes his skin feel like his skin instead of like a shell. ]

It's what I want, too. [ Nothing to thank him for. ] But if it wasn't, I would want to do it for you, if you asked me. You can ask me for things like that.