Yu blinked slowly, his lashes still damp from the tears he'd shed before drifting half-asleep on the couch. When Adrian's touch brushed his hair back, when his warmth sank into the blanket wrapped around him, something inside Yu loosened.
His whole body exhaled in a way he hadn't realized he'd been holding. The icy dread from earlier—vomiting over the toilet the moment he woke up, the shame of his weakness, the gnawing hunger of his Incubus instincts—faded into the background. All that mattered was that Adrian was here. Steady. Grounding.
The scent of cologne and faint smoke from outside clung to Adrian's clothes, and Yu pressed his face closer, letting it envelop him like a shield. His chest, which had been so tight, eased. For just a heartbeat, he let himself believe that maybe this is where he belonged. Maybe this is enough.
