It was much later when I felt fingers in my hair, pulling my head back. I smiled up at Astral and let him place a soft kiss on my mouth.

"Keefe told me I could find you here. Should've known if there was a place with books, you'd take up residency fast."

"You know me. I love reading." I chuckled a little goofily.

"It's almost dinner time. You've been here for hours. Aren't you hungry?" He slid his hand out of my hair and picked up the book I was reading, flipping a couple of pages before going to the first one, to read the title. "Elfish remedies?"

"Why not expand my knowledge as much as possible?" I asked and shrugged a shoulder, taking the book back from him.

"Anything interesting in there?"
"Sun and stars, Astral, it's amazing what the bioluminescent plants can do. I need to take some samples. And I need to make so many notes. I need another notebook."

The sides of Astral's mouth twitched and he shook his head. "I'll find you another notebook," he said softly and kissed my cheek. "Come eat with me. Before you grow roots here."

I chuckled, turning my head, and receiving a kiss on the lips. My stomach growled just at the thought of food and in fairness I had been suppressing it for a while. I had been too busy reading and trying to redo parts of our thesis. I wrote a whole part about Venus and Astral's newfound immortality.

"Astral," I said softly and turned a page in the notebook Keefe had found for me earlier. "How are your visions now?"

"I haven't had one, but I feel one coming soon," he murmured not looking entirely focused on the subject, but more focused on running his fingers through my hair.

"Does it feel different this time?"

"Mmh, I'm not as on edge and my hands aren't shaking." He moved some hair out of the way and kissed me right under my ear.

I gasped a bit and then couldn't hold back a satisfied smile. He kept pushing his tongue against my skin and it felt so great. I was almost forgetting what we were talking about before I snapped out of it and moved to the side, out of his reach.

"You devious fiend," I laughed and rubbed the spot under my ear.

"Can't say I'm not persistent," he laughed and looked down at my notebook. "Come on, Mars. Food and then bed." He grabbed my hand and hauled me out of the library.

I was panting hard. So was Astral. He was slung over me, his and my body slick with sweat. He looked so content, a small smile on his lips, his eyes closed. I was idly playing with his hair, pulling on a curl, releasing it and watching it bounce.

My body hadn't been hurting so I had initiated this. Pulled him down with me on the soft pillows and undressed him. Kissed his body until he was moaning. I had missed him in the short time I had been without his caresses. I loved connecting with him like this. Where words weren't needed, only our bodies speaking their own language. Where nothing mattered but feeling each other. Kissing each other.

Sun and stars, I loved him so much. I had to kiss him, so I got his head tipped up, softly pressing my lips to his. I felt him smile and he vibrated on top of me, his hand softly running over my chest.

"You're sweet," he murmured against my lips and pulled back. "And lovely."

I couldn't help but smile. I loved it when he told me I was lovely. I loved it when he touched me the way he was doing now. It made my stomach turn in the best possible way, and my heart always sped up. My body had such big reactions to him, and I loved that.

He kissed my chin and then my chest before going back to just resting on top of me. He was so sweet. He usually wasn't overly sweet but as he laid on top of me, nude, relaxed and content, he just became another person. As if he fully relaxed now and just enjoyed being right here with me.

"How're you feeling?" I asked with a low voice.

"I'm actually really good." He snorted a little and smirked up at me. "But also in general. I feel like my powers have been getting better. Like when we were kids, and I could feel myself becoming more powerful. At one point that stopped, but now it feels like that again."

"When did it stop?"

"When we were fifteen or so."

"You never told me this," I said softly, running my fingers over his scalp. He tipped his head down a little, giving me more space.

"I was ashamed. Everyone were improving and I was stuck. And then my visions became worse and worse." He sighed deeply. "I've felt like a failure for so long."

"You've never been a failure." I kissed his forehead.

"You know, you never made me feel like one either. I've always loved you for that."

It was so hard to not smile all over. My heart sped up and I felt heat rise in my face. I still wasn't used to hearing him say the big L-word. I wasn't sure I'd get used to it either, not that I wanted to. I wanted to feel this giddy forever and ever.

"I've always admired you," I said then. "You've always worked so hard. Things didn't come easy to you, but you never gave up."

"It was purely out of spite," he laughed and looked up at me. "Couldn't let them win."

We both laughed at that.

"So," I said after having calmed down. "Have you tried out these new powers?"

"Yeah, during training with Zeke. It's a lot easier to summon the elements and bend them to my will. I can even sense magic much easier than before. I can sense Zeke's presence right now."

"That's amazing, Astral." I moved down so we were facing each other, both of our heads on the same pillow, only inches apart.

"It actually is, isn't it? I can't help but feel I shouldn't enjoy it this much, but I am. I really like feeling like I'm getting better."

"Well, we're students. We like improving for the sake of improving. You're improving in a whole new way with whole new means that you haven't had access to prior. While I don't personally like the way you did it, the student in me can't help but think this is actually a huge breakthrough in our thesis. If we could ever figure out how Venus does this, Astral... We could cure all diseases. We could do so much good."

He smiled a heart-warming smile and kissed the tip of my nose. "I love how you immediately want to help others. You could help yourself. Like, make your skin less sensitive. But instead, you want to cure the world of diseases. I love that." He placed a gentle kiss on my lips this time. "You're so good Mars."

"You're good too," I said in lack of something better to say. I wasn't sure how to respond to something like that. Astral always saw the best in me.

"Not like you are. But it makes me wanna be better too."

"You have become better. You have more friends now and it's been a good while since the last time you insulted someone."

He chuckled and nodded. "I never wanted anyone but you. I didn't see the point in having anyone but you, but now that I have? It's nice. And it doesn't diminish what we have either."

"Not one bit."

"I always thought it would. It's weird thinking about that now, but I honestly thought I didn't have enough in me to care about more than you."

"There weren't many other people to care about either."

"No. You're right." He smiled and kissed me again. "When I was younger, I thought everyone felt this deeply about their friends too and what I felt... What I feel for you is... It's a lot."

"You and your words," I chuckled and put my hand on his hip, getting him a little closer to me. He took that as an invitation to push his leg in between mine. I made a thrilled gasp and bit down on my lip, looking down at our aligned hips.

"Are you serious right now?" he laughed and ran his hand up my ribs. "How do you find the energy?"

"Well, I look at you and your pretty hands and then I imagine what you'd do with those pretty hands. And that pretty mouth of yours." I moved even closer, running my hand down to his butt.

"Well, well, well," he murmured and ran his hand down between us, circling his fingers around me. "Is that all you're thinking about? Or do you have more thoughts to share."

I whimpered a little, trying to get myself under control but it was hard. "I... I don't have anymore thoughts right now."

"Oh really?" he whispered and pushed me on my back, swinging a leg over mine, straddling my thighs. "Any thoughts now?"

I tried to bite down a smile as I shook my head. I put an arm behind it and just enjoyed the view and what he was doing with those pretty hands of his.

He bent over, his mouth hovering over mine. "What about now?" he whispered.

"All I'm thinking about is you," I murmured and lifted up, kissing him. He chuckled against my lips and kissed me back, making me lose myself in him.