The lights faded up slowly but I wasn’t ready to wake up yet. Cas’ arm was still under me and I could feel the side of his body pressed against my back. I rolled towards him, away from the light and pulled the duvet up over my face which was now resting on his bare chest. His arm stroked the bare skin of my back, reminding me that I was still topless. My eyes shot open. Suddenly, I was much more awake and very aware of the fact that my chest was barely covered by my bra and pressed against Cas’. Memories of last night washed over me and I almost moaned in longing. I wished we weren’t interrupted. Even now, I still wish that.

My hand traced over the muscles and scars on his stomach, moving lower and teasing the soft skin just above the band of his shorts. A quiet moan came from him and I smiled, my hand aching to move even lower. I bit my lip, my hand fiddling with his waistband as I summoned the courage to.

Morning! Is everyone awake? Shall we meet at the usual vent halfway between us in twenty? Peggy thought chirpily.

I groaned loudly, my hand moving away from his shorts and resting on his stomach again.

“Morning,” He whispered, lust evident in his voice.

I pulled myself even further under the duvet, unwilling to deal with the world just yet and felt his laugh reverberate in his chest.

“I don’t want to get up either but we both know if we don’t Peggy will come and drag us out of bed.”

I groaned again, even louder. I knew he had a point, she’d done it to Cory and Gem before. I thought Gem was going to kill her but it was hilarious.

“Or we could tell her we’re skipping the run today and lock the door…” His voice dropped lower as his fingers teased my back.

I bit my lip. I wanted to so badly but I knew it was a bad idea.

“We shouldn't…” I said reluctantly, glancing up at him.

The dimple appeared on his cheek again as he smiled.

“I know.”

I rolled onto my back, throwing the duvet off me and glaring at the brightness. I hated feeling responsible. I wished I could just lock the door and spend the day in the dorm alone with Cas but I knew we couldn’t.

I lay there fuming silently and feeling Cas watch me with a smile on his face. I knew he felt the same way I did. He sat up on one elbow, smiling down at me, his eyes dropping to my exposed body. I watched him for a second, enjoying seeing the longing grow in his eyes, before sitting up and grabbing my top from the floor where I’d dropped it last night.

“Aries?”

I looked over my shoulder at him.

“About last night… Do you regret it?”

His voice was uncertain, so vulnerable as he refused to meet my eyes.

“No,” I said definitively.

He finally looked up, a wide smile forming on his lips.

“Me either.”

I bit my lip as I debated saying what I was thinking.

“The only thing I regret…” I decided to say it anyway, “was being interrupted.”

I stood and walked to the bathroom quickly before my confidence could make me worry about his reaction. I couldn’t stop myself from glancing back as I shut the door, catching the look on his face. A devilishly sexy smile danced on his lips. My grip tightened on the door as I fought the urge to run back to the bed and climb on top of him again. The only thing that stopped me at that very moment was the thought of my morning breath.

“That was horrible.” I managed, bracing my hands against my knees and sucking as much air into my lungs as I could.

“It was but I’m glad we added the extra distance to our morning run. It’ll help our stamina and endurance.” Peggy panted, checking our run times on her wrist monitor.

“It wasn’t too bad in the end.” Gem said, stretching her arms out, finally fully awake.

I glared at her whilst copying her stretch.

“We should get ready for breakfast. Do you guys want to get ready in your dorm so we’re quicker?” She said, looking meaningfully at Cory.

“Great,” He said too quickly.

“We’ll meet you at breakfast?” Cas said, his eyes on mine.

“Of course.” I smiled, half dreading what was about to come.

I stepped out of the hatch and walked into our dorm with Peggy and Gem following me. I dropped onto my bed, untying my trainers and still breathing heavily. I could feel their eyes burning into me so took my time undoing them and placing them carefully under my bed before looking up.

“What?” I asked finally.

“What the hell, Aries?” Gem exploded excitedly.

“Huh?” I asked, trying to appear innocent but I could feel the telltale blush rise on my cheeks.

“Tell us!” Peg dropped onto my bed as Gem bounced around to the other side.

“Should I go shower first or…?” I asked teasingly.

“You are not going anywhere until you tell us everything!” Gem demanded.

I blushed even harder, trying not to grin.

“Cas and I… you know…” I couldn’t bring myself to say anything more.

“You had sex?” Peg leant forwards.

“No!” I paused. “But we almost did.”

“Oh, my gods! Tell us everything!” Gem shouted, smacking me with the pillow she was clutching.

“Well, I just went over there to talk to him about what happened at Chal’s because I didn’t want things to be weird with us…” I trailed off, peeking up at their expectant faces.

“And?”

“And then I kissed him.”

“Yes! Finally!” They erupted into cheers.

I giggled and covered my burning cheeks with my hands.

“Then what?” Gem demanded.

“We made out for a bit… and he was topless… and then so was I…”

“Wait… When did we interrupt you?”

“Umm… He was taking my shorts off and I had kinda taken his off a bit…” I trailed off.

“Oh, my gods! You were totally going to hook up!” Gem shouted as Peg fanned herself dramatically.

I laughed at them, my cheeks burning.

“And then what?”

“And then you interrupted us!”

“Wait, you didn’t go any further?”

“No!”

“Oh boo! We won’t interrupt you next time then.” Gem said with a salacious wink as she got up.

“If there even is a next time.” I laughed.

“Oh, there will be.” Gem raised her eyebrows suggestively at me.

I fell back against my headboard and bit my lip.

“I hope so.”

“Go take a cold shower!” Gem laughed, turning back and throwing her pillow at me.

I breathed in the smell of breakfast wafting through the room. No matter how long I’d been at the base, I never got used to the smell of mapleen waffles first thing in the morning. I took a bite, the flavours exploding on my tongue. I’m so glad that Sarania has maple trees. Apparently, there used to be some on Earth too, according to the signs we read when we went to the botanical gardens on Sarania, but they were all destroyed when the planet exploded. What a waste.

A plate slid across the table at me and I looked up at Cas as he sat down opposite me, smiling almost shyly. I pulled it closer, spreading cream cheese over the bagel and taking a huge bite. It tasted especially good this morning.

“So… how is everyone doing this morning? Have a good night?” Gem asked, smiling innocently at Cas.

I kicked her under the table but she barely flinched as she waited for Cas’ answer.

“Doing good, good night. How are you doing this morning?” He tried to play it cool but a blush started to spread over his cheeks as he peeked at me.

I looked down at my waffle to hide my smile.

“I bet it was.” Gem replied, grinning rakishly and raising her eyebrows.

I kicked her again, harder this time.

“Don’t forget we’ll need extra food today because we added on that extra distance,” Peggy added, trying to change the subject for Cas who’s face was now much darker.

“Yeah and some of us had a busy night so— Oww!” Gem stopped suddenly, rubbing her shin in pain.

I tried to look as though I hadn’t just kicked her very hard but didn’t manage it.

“Fine, fine. I’ll stop. I’m just happy for you two. Finally managed to get together. Took you long enough.” She continued muttering under her breath, glaring slightly at me.

I glanced up at Cas, my eyes meeting his and a smile growing on my face.

Maybe I shouldn’t have included this bit. I worry it will make people see us as more grown up than we actually are. I don’t know why I did. Maybe I just wanted to show more of who we were before all this happened. Who we could have been. Cas and I could have been happy together. We all could have been. We were a great crew. We deserved better. Hell, maybe I do know why I included this. I knew that you’d read this someday, James. I knew you wouldn’t be able to resist it. You always wanted more details about Cas. Fuck you, James, your son was happy without you.