@hetuvyasa: “ why don’t you stay? ”
Fingers that comb lazily through strands of gray and silver slow to a pause. Adrian blinks from where they lounge beside him, cheek propped in hand, curls as disheveled as the sheets that barely wrap around their naked form. It's a request that takes them by surprise if only briefly, as Adrian has long since suspected a half awake Al-Haytham is much more honest with his feelings than a fully conscious one. Is it a coincidence they've always found him cutest when he wakes?
"Missed me that much, did you?" Never passing up a chance to tease, a smile curls at the edges of lips that have long lost their cherry red color after the night's events. Not that Adrian minds terribly. The scattered remnants of lipstick stains across the expanse of his skin has always made for a lovely sight. They lean forward, pressing languid kisses along the corner of Al-Haytham's lips, his jawline, the curve of his neck and lingering there with a playful hum.
"And how long would you like me to stay, hm?" they ask, to one who prefers the company of his books and studies and as one, being neither, who would rather not overstay their welcome. "You should know by now I require a good deal of attention."
Adrian remembers a time they would've stayed for a lifetime had Al-Haytham wished it. But maybe it's better things turned out this way in the end. There is a comfort, too, in knowing there's always a place to return to here in Sumeru.