@unfxrgettable / continued.
𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐢𝐬𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐟𝐭. 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞. 𝐛𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞. a brush of warmth, gentle and fleeting, and it's over before rocky can truly register it … but the moment their lips touch something in the engineer jolts awake. months without human contact. years without being held … he knew he missed it, but he didn't understand the depth of that ache until now, until this tiny spark of closeness lights up every hollow place inside of him …
and then grace pulls away. rocky almost follows without thinking. their body leans forwards just a fraction, instinct tugging them towards the warmth that's already slipping away. he swallows down the small sound that threatens to escape — a quiet protest that rocky refuses to let out — and he forces himself to stop, to hold still and let his friend pull back … although the proximity is still there, close enough that their noses almost brush, and rocky can still feel the other's breath against his lips, the way they tingle slightly at the loss of contact.
a shaky exhale escapes him ( half a laugh, half something just breaking loose in his chest ) when grace whispers “thank you”. rocky hadn't expected that. the small chuckle isn't intentional, it just spills out of them, warm && unsteady … rocky lifts their gaze and the sight of grace in that golden wash of simulated sunset nearly knocks the air from his lungs. but it's not the light that does it, as beautiful as he looks aglow in it, it's the closeness. the intimacy of being this near to someone again.
❝ you don't have to thank me, ❞ the engineer murmurs, voice a little rougher than they meant it to be. ❝ … I wanted that too.❞ rocky's hand moves before he can second-guess it. months of restraint splinter in an instant as his fingers find grace's jaw, steady and sure, thumb tracing the curve of cheekbone with such reverence.
❝ … grace, I want to kiss you again.❞ the admission comes out softly, but the need beneath those words is unmistakable. please. please kiss me again. he isn't desperate … but he is starved. starved for closeness, for connection, for the simple miracle of feeling another heartbeat against his own. moving to close the inches between them again, with far more confidence than before, this time they don't hold back. the kiss rocky offers grace is deeper, surer, making it painfully clear just how long they've been without this, how fiercely he's been craving the warmth of another person. how much they want him.







