It's slower than the first time. The first time was a detonation, all the pushed-down want exploding at once. This is different. This is unhurried, deliberate, a boy and a girl who know now that they're allowed this, that they don't have to tear away, that there's no wall left to hide behind. I learn the shape of her mouth. I learn the way her breath catches when I tilt her head, the way her fingers slide into my hair, the small helpless sound she makes low in her throat that undoes me completely. The pull between us goes tight and hot and singing, the bond wide open now, no suppressant blunting it, and I can feel her, actually feel her, her want mirroring mine, the two of us caught in the same current, and it's the most intimate thing I've ever known, to want someone and feel them wanting
