The kitchen was indeed empty of all other Harper family members. That was a relief. Addison padded across the hardwood floors to the fridge to pull out breakfast supplies. Thankfully, Eric was a bit OCD about having a fully stocked fridge so it was full of food.

"Man, I thought our kitchen was clean..." Dylan said with a low whistle as he look around the kitchen.

"Yeah, my brother Eric is pretty anal retentive when it comes to the kitchen. He has an order for everything. Once or twice a month Aaron will go round and rearrange everything and make all the cans face backwards just to see Eric's reaction. It's the closest he ever gets to crying." Addison explained as she grabbed a bottle of milk and turned to Dylan. "Cereal or cooked breakfast?" She asked before pulling out a carton of juice so she could take her morning medication.

"Cereal is fine, what kind do you have?" Dylan asked.

"What kind don't we have." Addison rolled her eyes. "Aaron is addicted to anything with sugar as its main ingredient and Mark has this weird appreciation for muesli that no one apart from Mark understands." Addison said opening the cereal cupboard, which was also fully stocked.

"Holy shit, you weren't kidding." Dylan said smirking while he leant against the nearest kitchen countertop. The sight of Dylan stood there in just his boxers with a smirk on his lips was incredibly distracting. It took a moment or two for Addison to pull her eyes away from Dylan's torso and that damn tattoo of his.

"Um...what kind?" Addison asked pulling her focus away from the practically naked Dylan and nodding at the cereal boxes.

"Oh, Coco Pops." Dylan said and Addison shuddered. "Hey! Don't bad mouth the pops. They are the greatest edible thing created by man after apple pie." Dylan said looking thoroughly affronted at Addison distaste.

"Coco Pops are nothing but sugar and chocolate pretending that they are a breakfast food, I have no idea how you can eat that stuff." Addison said pouring Dylan a generous bowl of cereal despite her not actually believing that they were edible let alone a breakfast food.

"Well we can't all live off a diet of bitter black coffee." Dylan said in a teasing voice.

"Coffee and bagels, I'll have you know." Addison replied. She was busy concentrating on the cereal so she didn't notice Dylan moving ever so slightly. She wasn't aware of it until Dylan was resting his chin on Addison's shoulder then gently nuzzling into Addison's neck. "Excuse me but I'm trying to be a culinary genius here Dylan." Addison said fighting the smirk creeping across her face. 

"Oh yes, those Coco Pops are a real fucker to get right." Dylan mumbled into Addison's neck. Now that the barrier between them had been knocked down neither Dylan nor Addison were taking any notice of the concept of personal space and Addison couldn't find it in her to care in the slightest. Sure she'd felt skin against skin, a hand resting on her arm or the ghost of a slow smile before but none of those had held the same weight as they did when they coming from Dylan. Maybe it was because Addison's barriers had been all but blown away.

"Excuse me but the ratio of cereal to milk requires complex precision." Addison said while Dylan chuckled devilishly into her neck. "I might find them the perversion of the cereal world but I'm not about to fuck up the science that is the perfect bowl of Coco Pops." She added causing Dylan to chuckle again, planting a small kiss on Addison's bare shoulder as he did so.

"You know, I like this version of you." Dylan whispered into Addison's ear.

"What? Half naked and pouring you sugar masquerading as cereal?" Addison asked smirking and she could practically hear Dylan rolling his eyes.

"No you idiot, the version of you that isn't being a sarcastic asshole and being grumpy as fuck at the same time." Dylan said.

For a moment Addison stiffened, the last thing she ever appreciated was a joke made it her expense when it came to her mood swings or generally awful outlook on life. She was highly tempted to go and tell Dylan to fuck himself and she would have done if it were anyone else.

"I didn't mean that the way you think I meant it either so don't get pissed off at me." Dylan said moving sideways so he could lean against the kitchen countertop and look at Addison. "I just like this lighter version of you when you're not so consumed with trying to not let me in, that's what I meant..."

"It's ok Dylan, I prefer this version of me too." Addison said after several moments.

The smile Dylan gave her was small but it did the job of restoring the kitchen to the playful mood before. Addison handed Dylan the bowl of cereal and as she gave Dylan a warmer smile to show that Dylan hadn't upset her, she switched the large coffee machine on the corner counter into life. Dylan smirked when he noticed the several bottle of wholesale sized coffee syrup bottles next to the machine which Lisa had managed to score for Addison's Christmas present to Aaron. The look one Aaron's face when he'd opened them had been priceless and the label maker Eric had gotten him was forgotten instantly. Why Aaron had asked for a label maker in the first place had worried Addison to no end but it mainly turned out to be so Aaron could label every single item of food in the cupboards he thought was his. Why he had to label individual grape though was something Addison would never understand.

"Let me guess, Aaron has a strong love for all of those sickly sweet drinks pretending to be coffee." Dylan said and Addison couldn't help but think that was rich coming from Dylan as he was currently eating chocolate and sugar disguised as cereal.

"Don't say the words 'caramel macchiato' to him or he'll never shut up." Addison said sighing. "There were bruises on my ribs for nearly a week after Christmas because he hugged me that hard."

"So does that mean that you want me to meet your brothers? Officially this time and not just as the random guy in the office on the day you slapped Chloe?" Dylan asked lightly but the implications behind his words were there.

There was no way Dylan was ever meeting Eric, if it were possible Addison wished she'd never met Eric even if they were related. Meeting Aaron would be easier as long as Aaron didn't turn into an overly protective big brother and meeting Mark would be tricky depending on his mood, though Addison would have to remind him several times that Dylan wasn't remotely involved in the fight between Chloe. For all their arguments, Addison's brother were incredibly protective of her. She wasn't sure how they would react if she brought home a boyfriend, or whatever Dylan was.

"What exactly would I introduce you as? Hypothetically of course." Addison asked trying to sound casual.

"That depends, are you finally going to class us as friends?" Dylan said with a smirk.

"My friends don't tend to stay the night then stand around in my kitchen in just their underwear looking absurdly attractive." Addison said with shrug. Dylan raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"So what exactly does that make me?" he asked. Dylan might have been trying to be casual but Addison could hear the seriousness behind his question. It would probably be no surprise to Dylan that Addison didn't do relationships, mainly because the 'flight' part of her 'fight or flight' instinct would kick into overdrive, so this was all new ground for Addison. It probably wasn't a surprise to Dylan but he could still do with hearing it.

"Well, don't let this inflate your ego but you're the first person I've been like this with so it currently makes you something outside the norm. At the moment you're just my 'Dylan' I guess." Addison said shrugging hating how her words sounded but it was the only way she could explain this. She knew it sounded corny as hell but she really was at a loss for words on how to explain what Dylan was to her. 

"Your 'Dylan'..." Dylan said as a slow smile crept across his face.

"Yes, I guess so. You're more than just a friend now." Addison said.

"I thought we weren't friends." Dylan shot back with a smirk

"Well we certainly aren't just friends now." Addison said smirking. Dylan rolled his eyes but then went quiet, like he was trying to think something through.

"I think I'd like being your 'Dylan'." Dylan said after several moments of silence and Addison couldn't fight the bright smile that broke out on her face. "Addi...last night, you know we both said some shitty things but I meant what I said when I said I wasn't going to let anything happen to you...anything bad at least." Dylan said sounding serious.

"I know." Addison said quickly.

"So you trust me?" Dylan asked. Yes, she shouldn't have trusted Dylan because she wasn't sure if she could fully trust anyone but she found herself doing so. She knew Dylan would never knowingly hurt her. Addison leant across her seat so Dylan was closer than before.

"I trust you." she said bringing her lips to Dylan's in a kiss that was less intense, less primal, than the ones shared the night before. Dylan tasted like a mixture of coffee and sugar from his cereal, so different from the slight musk and tang of cigarettes from the night before. This Dylan, the one sat in Addison's kitchen eating cereal, seemed younger and less jaded, he seemed genuinely happy and a small fluttering started in Addison's chest when she realised that she'd caused that happiness.

Dylan's hand fell to Addison's hip as his tongue pressed gently against Addison's lips until he opened them. Addison wasn't sure what it was but there was something about how Dylan kissed her that made her breathless, like her chest was tightening until it would explode. She'd certainly never felt like this when kissing anyone else before. She'd never felt so hyper aware of anything before actually. Eventually, Addison had to pull away before her lungs actually stopped working. Her breath returned to her shakily while Dylan went back to sipping his coffee.

"So" Dylan said placing his coffee mug back down onto the table "How do you plan on spending the whole day without going into college?" he asked with a cocked eyebrow.

"Well I could actually do the work I've been putting off for the past several weeks but I'd rather lie in bed and watch a shitload of Netflix." Addison said nonchalantly.

Dylan's familiar slow smile crept across his face. "That sounds like a damn good plan to me." He said as if there wasn't else he'd rather do.