Teasing on the couch

It was Natalie’s turn to blush, shaking her head at his expression. “Yeah. That time.”

Aiden grinned, his own ears going a little red. “Right. Yeah. Okay. That explains… a lot.”

“Does it?” she asked, still amused.

“Yeah. I thought maybe I was doing something wrong.”

“You weren’t,” she assured him, touching his arm. “This all just started at a really bad time.”

He smiled at that, feeling more relaxed. “Story of my life.”

She chuckled quietly and leaned back into the couch, her hand still resting lightly on his arm. “I didn’t mean to make you feel any type of way.”

“I get it,” he said, settling beside her again. “But, uh… maybe I need to get a calendar, to track when it is a good time. I’m happy to check the calendar for you.”

Natalie shot him a look, equal parts disbelief and amusement. “You’re such a child.”

“Hey, it’s important to know these types of things,” he teased, fighting to keep a straight face. “I’m just saying it’s a natural thing, and I should be aware of when I might need to exercise a little more caution around you, so I don’t say or do the wrong thing.”

Natalie gave him a look that told him he was on thin ice. “Aiden.”

“Yeah?”

“Stop while you’re ahead.”

He chuckled, leaning back into the couch again. “For what it’s worth, I already got my red wings-”

Natalie’s eyes went wide. “Oh my god,” she said, cutting him off

Before he could blink, she hit him on the thigh, hard enough to make him wince and grab at it.

“Ow!” he laughed, shocked, but pleased with himself. “What was that for?”

“For that comment,” she said sharply, though her tone carried more disbelief than anger. “We do not know each other well enough to be having that conversation.”

Aiden rubbed his leg, still laughing. “I was kidding!”

“You’re disgusting.”

“I’m accepting,” he corrected. “And comfortable with natural human biology.”

“Oh, don’t even start.” She pointed a warning finger at him. “You finish that thought, and you’re sleeping outside.”

He bit his lip, doing a poor job of hiding his grin. “You mean outside your room and inside my own?”

“I mean outside,” she said, crossing her arms, but there was a flicker of a smile breaking through.

Aiden leaned back, both hands raised in surrender. “Alright, alright, I’ll stop. But for the record, you can hit harder than you look.”

“Keep talking, and you’ll find out just how hard I can hit,” she shot back. But now she was laughing too, shaking her head. “God, you’re unbelievable.”

“Yeah, but I like to think it’s all part of my unmatched charm,” he said, glancing at her sideways.

“Well, your ‘charm’ is about to talk your way out of the blow job I was planning to give you,” she chided.

Aiden froze, mid-laugh, his mouth hanging open, and his eyes threatening to pop out of his head. “Wait- what?”

Natalie looked back at the TV, deadpan. “You heard me.”

He blinked a few times, trying to catch up. “You can’t just drop something like that in the middle of a sentence.”

“Oh, I absolutely can,” she said, grabbing her water bottle and taking a sip, pretending to be completely unfazed.

He was still staring at her, trying to tell if she was serious. “You were planning-”

“Were,” she cut in, emphasizing the word. “Past tense.”

“That’s so cruel,” he whispered, staring at her.

“Consider it incentive to learn when to shut your mouth.”

Aiden shook his head, laughing now, but still reeling. “You can’t dangle that out there like some kind of threat.”

“I didn’t dangle anything,” she said with mock primness. “I stated a consequence.”

He gave her a long look. That crooked grin slowly creeping back in. “I had no idea you were so evil.”

Natalie smiled behind her water bottle. “You’ll live. Besides, if you can’t handle a little teasing, you’d never survive me actually meaning it.”

His hands dropped to his lap, needing to adjust again. “Oh, I’d survive,” he said quietly, the confidence finding its way back in.

She looked over at him, the air thickening between them before she finally looked away, pretending to focus on the TV again. “Good,” she said with a smirk. “You’ll need that kind of optimism.”

Aiden chuckled softly to himself, sinking deeper into the couch. “Noted,” he murmured.

The silence that followed was charged, alive, like Aiden’s brain was stuck on her words. She could feel him glance her way once or twice, and every time he did, she smiled a little more, trying to hide it.

Eventually, she decided she’d teased him enough, gave up pretending to be absorbed in the show, and leaned toward him, resting lightly against him. Aiden went still for a second, surprised by the sudden display of affection, then exhaled slowly, the tension melting from his shoulders.

Without a word, she reached down, took his hand from where it rested in his lap, and lifted it to guide his arm around her. His fingers tentatively brushed the side of her ribs, as though waiting for her to change her mind.

When she didn’t, he let his hand settle there, feeling the warmth of her body through the thin cotton of her shirt. Natalie shifted closer, fitting herself neatly against his side, her head finding the space between his shoulder and collarbone.

Her own hand found its place on his ribs, feeling the slow rise and fall of his chest. The other she slipped behind him, the back of her knuckles brushing the couch as she tucked her arm between him and the cushion, finding a comfortable spot to snuggle in.

Aiden’s thumb traced a small, careful pattern near the hem of her shirt. She didn’t stop him, letting him trace the softer tissue between two ribs, just above where her shirt had ridden up as she got comfortable.

The TV played through scenes neither of them paid much attention to. For the first time all night, neither spoke or teased or pushed. They simply sat there, taking in this newfound closeness.

He sat with his arm around her for what felt like an eternity, but his mind was repeating what she’d said minutes ago. Even as she laid against him, it felt like neither of them had fully relaxed. There was too much awareness from his fingers on her skin, of her own palm resting on his chest, even the sensation that their bodies seemed to lean closer even when they weren’t moving.

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