I hear wails coming from across the corridor.

I decided to follow him. 

"Christian?" 

"NO!" They shout. 

"Chris, it's me. Anaya." I furrow my eyebrows as I wander my way through the darkness, concentrating on the flickering light at the end of the narrow corridor.

A scream rings in my ears and tilt my head and wince, stumbling to the side until I find my balance. 

"CHRIS!" His name echoes around me, bouncing off the walls. 

"Anaya..." A whisper. I place my hand over my mouth to stop myself hearing my own breaths. "Help me." He's struggling? The desperation in his voice, is like he's going to give up. Or fall behind. 

I hurry my feet as fast as I can. I push my legs to move more, quicker. I pound my feet on the floor, making it send jolts of power up my body. I look forward, realising I have come to a door. The light makes me wince and blink to adjust my eyes. I look down. 

"Oh god," escapes my mouth. "Chris, what happened?" 

He's stumped by the toilet, one hand on the seat and another on his forehead. Beads of sweat trickle down his face. His chiseled jaw and stubble reflect light when it hits them. 

I crouch down beside him, "What's wrong?"

"I passed out... I don't know how, I just- I just went dizzy all of a sudden." Not looking up at me, he moves his lips. 

I place my hand on his furthest shoulder from me and bury my head into his shoulder. "You're gonna be okay, okay Christian?" I feel his muscles stretch and relax, indicating his nods. "Good. Now I'm going to help you get up. Okay?" And another nod. "Right..." I pull myself off him and trail my hand down his arm to grab his. "Just try your best, I'll go slow for you." 

I pull him up slowly. His feet... they plant themselves on the floor and fidget as I pull his arm. The muscles beneath his skin tense, his hand gripping my arm.

And then his knees... they wobble and I watch them and his face. He's looking directly at me, not scanning my face - but his eyes are fixated on mine, even when I'm not looking at his. 

His thighs... they shake, and they conduct his feet's movement. 

His hips... they stiffen and this legs straighten. A smile creeps across my cheeks and across my lips, and I look up at him. My eyes ask if he's okay, and his reply with yes, he is.

His chest and collarbone. I place my hand flat on his chest muscle to keep him steady. His hand placed on the wall beside him. 

And soon as he shoots his head up to face me, his other hand grips my waist, trying his best to keep steady. 

"Chris?" I furrow my eyebrows.

"I'm fine." He loosens his grip on my waist, and starts to fall back. I grab his back before he falls and hits his head on the toilet. I drag him back up with all of my strength. With him being nearly twice more of the weight of muscle than me, I have to make my back muscles burn. 

"You're not-" I strain my arms, "-fine." I yank him forward.

"Oh Jesus." And he's falls on me. "Thanks for breaking my fall." His arms gather around my body and hug me, and I feel his sweat from his hands on my back. 

"It's fine. I'll take you back to our room." 

***

I lay him down in his bed and put the blankets over him. "Too warm? Or too cosy?"

"It's just fine." He murmurs under his breath as he sideways curls into himself slightly.

"Okay, I'll leave you to get some sleep then. Goodnight Chris." I kiss him on the forehead before stepping away, brushing my lips against his skin and feel both of our body temperatures raise. 

Heading towards the draws to choose some PJs, he whispers, "Can you join me?" and I stop in my tracks.

My heart starts to beat faster and faster. 

Okay, so I'm going to have a really bad teenage girl, mid-life crisis and an oh-my-freaking-god moment but he wants me to join him in bed. Holy fucking Jesus. Sorry Lord, but fuckety fuck fuck. I'm honestly baffled and I'm so happy that he can't see my face, even though he may now be impatiently waiting for my reply. Oops. Okay, fangirl moment over. 

"Yeah sure, let me just get my PJs on." And at last, I open the draw and dig out a pair of shorts and a black vest. 

I get changed quickly and quietly, my back towards him but I can feel his eyes on me. I look over my shoulder and he's near enough asleep. "Chris?"

"Mhmm." 

"You awake? I'll be climbing in your bed in a min, just need to get my socks off." I giggle to myself at how embarrassing I must sound to him. I shake my head and look down with a smile on my face. 

I slip both of them off my feet before walking over to his bed again. "I'm here now. Why should I lie?" And he signals for me to lie in front of him. I lift the corner of the sheets up so I can climb in. I sit down and his hand reaches up so he's holding it for me, so I can slide in and get comfortable. His breaths are on the back of my neck and he makes me shiver. 

"Are you cold?" He whispers, slowly wrapping his arm around me to get the corner of the blanket where it originally was. 

"Just a little." And I feel his nose skim my neck and I exhale and purse my lips. 

"Can I hug you?" His breaths still make the hairs on my back go up. I nod, and he must have felt it because his hands were slowly inching around the skin of my waist and onto my stomach. The feeling sent sensations all about my body. It went into my fingers and toes and made them tingle. I shivered again.

"Okay... what's wrong? Is it me? Because if it is, I'm boiling so I can't be that cold." He chuckles under his breath.

"No it's not you." Well, he didn't need know that it was. And I needed his arm around me. His warmth makes me sweaty and my hands become clammy.

"Okay." He settles his nose on my shoulder and kisses my skin lightly. 

And I shivered. Again. 

"It's me, I knew it!" He chuckles quietly. 

"It's fine, just whatever you do, make sure I don't turn around." Because I'm about to pounce on you. 

"Okay I will. But instead-" And another kiss on my shoulder, "-Or this..." And he kisses my neck.

"Christian..." I close my eyes and whisper as soft as air. "Are you teasing me? Or trying to get into my pants? Because I really hope it's the first one."

"You'll see. Soon." He whispers, and blows his breath along my shoulder up to my jaw. Goddamn it, it's like he's done it before and he's gotten away with it. 

"Stop it... go to sleep." 

"Well, I did ask if you could join me, and you didn't say no." I can feel him shrug his shoulders. 

Holy shit. 

HOLY. FUCKING. SHIT.

He kisses me lightly. Again. And again. And again. All in different spots. My cheek. My shoulder. My spine. And all the while he does it, his hand creeps down the back of my trousers. I can't feel his hands on my skin, so he must be taking it slow. He's remembering what I told him on London Bridge. My lips crack a gentle smile as I think that I might just lie here and see what he does if I don't react back to him. 

He slides his hand on to my arse and lightly caresses my inner thigh with his fingers. "Okay Christian, I get it. You can... stop the teasing now." And he squeezes my leg. 

Okay that's it!

In the end, I pushed his hand off and flipped over to face him. The tension was real, our faces were merely centimetres apart. We both inhaled and exhaled, raising our chests and relaxing them. The pressure in my chest made my heart sink to my stomach.

"Naya?" He whispered.

"Yes?"

"Remember when you said you wanted to take things slow?" I thought he wouldn't have remembered, but yes. I do remember. 

"Vividly, yes." A slight chuckle escaped my lips.

"Is this slow enough?" I touched my cheek with his hand and tucked my hair behind my ear. 

"I- I suppose..." I looked through his eyes and saw that he wanted to kiss me but only with my permission. His black pits swallowed me up in one,  and I just fell deeper and deeper and deeper in-

"So is this... slow enough?" He slid his finger across my jawline and inched my face closer to his. 

"I guess..." And I just stared into his eyes, and he stared into mine. 

"Anaya Perez?" He asks. "May I kiss you?" 

The corners of my lips turned up and I nodded. It felt like I was the female character in a movie being swooned and whisked away by a man with roses. "You may." 

And he did. Slowly. But surely.