The night folds around them like a hush — like the world itself has dimmed the lights and stepped outside.

The air is warm, still touched by the day’s gold, now cooled into something gentler. Hong lies back against the sheets, his breath shallow, eyes steady on Nut as he hovers just above. There’s no performance here. No mask. Just them.

Nut brushes a strand of hair from Hong’s forehead, letting his fingers linger — memorizing the shape of him in low light. His voice is quiet, almost shy. “Tell me if anything feels too much.”

Hong answers with a touch — his hand against Nut’s chest, fingers spreading over his heart like he’s reading it. “I want to feel all of it,” he says.

Their kisses deepen — slower now, more deliberate, like each one is a question and an answer all at once. Their bodies press closer, fitting not in perfection, but in trust. Nut’s hands trace the lines of Hong’s back, the slope of his waist, learning the geography of someone he already knows by heart.

It’s not a rush toward something. It’s a slow unfolding.

They shift, legs tangled, breath shared. Nut kisses down the line of Hong’s throat, stopping at the pulse just below his jaw. He rests there, breathing in, letting himself be held by the moment before moving again. Hong’s fingers trail the ridge of Nut’s spine, and every touch says something unspoken — I see you. I know you. I’m still here.

There are quiet sounds — not sharp, not loud. Just the soft rhythm of movement, the sigh of sheets, the occasional gasp caught between them. It’s music made of nearness. Of trust. Of love finally let loose in the dark.

When they join — truly, fully — it’s with eyes open. No one looks away.

Nut’s hand cradles the side of Hong’s face, thumb brushing over his cheek. “You feel like home,” he whispers, the words catching slightly, like they’ve been waiting too long to be said.

Hong pulls him closer, their foreheads touching. “Then stay.”

They move together like waves — not perfect, but in sync. Giving and receiving, rising and easing, no need to speak what they already know in their bones.

And when it’s too much — the emotion, the feeling, the sheer realness of it — Nut presses his lips to Hong’s temple and just holds him. Holds all of it. Lets himself be held, too.

After, they lie wrapped around each other. Bare skin cooling, but warmth blooming from the inside out.

Nothing feels rushed. Nothing feels undone.

Only stillness. Only breath. Only love, given and received.

In the dark, Nut runs his fingers gently along Hong’s arm. “We’re okay,” he murmurs. A promise. A truth.

Hong nods, barely, already drifting. His hand finds Nut’s and holds it, thumb stroking his knuckles.

For a long time, Hong didn’t let himself imagine this.

The warmth of Nut’s body above him. The softness of his voice. The way their hands fit — not just physically, but with intention. With memory. With meaning.

He’d rehearsed versions of this closeness in his head late at night, alone in the dark, only to push the thoughts away before they could root too deep. Fear always came quicker than hope — fear that if he let it be real in his mind, he’d lose it in real life.

But now, with Nut here — not just in the room, not just touching him, but choosing him — it’s not something he has to imagine anymore.

It’s happening. It’s real.

And it scares him in the most beautiful way.

As Nut moves slowly, reverently, Hong feels something in him loosen. Not just his body — his breath, his past, the tight knot of self-protection he’s carried for years. Each touch, each kiss, each whispered word from Nut brushes against that guarded place.

His breath hitches not from the physical alone, but from the sheer weight of emotion pressing at his ribs. There’s something achingly tender about the way Nut’s fingers trail down his side, how he pauses before every motion like he’s asking permission in silence.

“You’re looking at me like I matter,” Hong says quietly, voice thick, raw.

Nut’s response is immediate. He presses their foreheads together, palm flat against Hong’s chest. “You do.”

The words almost undo him.