Elias did not plan to ask.
The realization unsettled him most of all.
He stood in the penthouse again, the city breathing below them, Damien's presence grounding and destabilizing him at once. The rules had shifted. The air between them had changed. After the line was crossed, nothing felt hypothetical anymore.
Damien sensed it immediately.
"You're restless," Damien said quietly.
Elias exhaled. "You taught me to notice."
Damien turned toward him, expression unreadable. "And now?"
"And now," Elias said, voice low, steady, "I don't know where to put it."
Damien didn't move closer. He didn't offer relief. He waited.
That, Elias realized, was the intimacy.
Not touch.
Permission to exist in the wanting.
"You said I had to ask," Elias continued.
"Yes."
Elias swallowed. His pulse thundered in his ears. "I'm asking."
The room seemed to tighten.
"For what?" Damien asked.
Elias met his gaze, refusing to look away. "For you."
Silence stretched long enough to test resolve.
Then Damien stepped forward.
Slowly. Deliberately.
"Be specific," he said softly. "I won't assume."
The words were an invitation and a warning.
Elias's voice dropped. "I want you to touch me."
Damien inhaled once, controlled but not unaffected.
"Where?" he asked.
Elias's breath stuttered not from fear, but from exposure. "Where you decide."
That did it.
Damien closed the distance and placed his hands on Elias's waist.
Not gripping.
Not claiming.
Anchoring.
The contact sent heat racing through Elias's body, sharp and undeniable. Damien's thumbs pressed lightly, testing, grounding, as if mapping something sacred.
"Still your choice," Damien murmured. "You can stop me."
"I won't," Elias said.
Damien's gaze darkened not with hunger alone, but with restraint stretched thin.
He leaned in, forehead resting briefly against Elias's. The intimacy of it stole Elias's breath more than any kiss could have.
"You are not something I take," Damien said quietly. "You are something I enter carefully."
Damien kissed him again.
This time, it wasn't a test.
It was slow. Deep. Controlled. A kiss meant to settle rather than consume. Elias melted into it, hands fisting lightly in Damien's shirt, body responding instinctively.
Damien broke the kiss first.
Always Damien.
"Stay with me," he said.
Elias nodded.
Damien guided him back not to the bed, but to the couch. He sat first, grounding, solid, then drew Elias down between his knees.
The position was intimate without being overt. Elias felt held, contained, seen.
Damien's hands moved up Elias's spine, slow and deliberate, tracing heat through fabric. Elias closed his eyes, breath uneven, surrendering to the sensation.
"You feel everything," Damien murmured.
"Yes."
"And you don't hide," Damien continued.
"No."
Damien's mouth brushed Elias's jaw, his neck but stopped just short of marking.
Control.
"You want more," Damien said.
"Yes."
"But you're not desperate," Damien added. "You're present."
The words unlocked something in Elias.
He leaned forward, resting his forehead against Damien's shoulder, breathing him in. This closeness this quiet, burning intimacy felt more erotic than anything he'd ever imagined.
Damien's hand slipped beneath Elias's shirt, palm warm against skin.
Elias gasped softly.
"That's enough," Damien said gently, feeling the reaction.
Frustration flickered but beneath it was trust.
Damien kissed his temple instead. "I won't let this turn into something careless."
Elias pulled back just enough to look at him. "I want it to matter."
"It already does," Damien replied.
Damien guided Elias upright again, hands lingering longer than before.
"Tonight isn't about release," Damien said. "It's about alignment."
Elias nodded slowly, understanding settling in his chest.
They stood there for a long moment, bodies close, breathing in sync, desire humming between them contained but powerful.
When Damien finally stepped back, Elias felt it like a loss—but also like promise.
"You did well," Damien said.
The praise sent heat through Elias again.
"You can stay," Damien added. "Or you can go."
Elias hesitated. "If I stay…?"
"We talk," Damien said. "We hold this where it belongs."
Elias considered then nodded. "I'll stay."
Damien poured them drinks, the mundane act grounding after the intensity. They sat side by side this time, not touching, but no longer distant.
"You trust me," Damien said quietly.
"Yes."
"And I won't abuse it," Damien replied.
The certainty in his voice made Elias believe him completely.
That night, when Elias finally left, his body still hummed but it wasn't frustration that followed him home.
It was something far more dangerous.
Security.
And Elias realized with startling clarity
this wasn't just desire anymore.
It was intimacy forged through control, consent, and choice.
And once intimacy took root…
It didn't loosen its grip.