I was suddenly ripped out of a deep sleep. My eyes blinked open sleepily, and I lazily scanned the room to get my bearings. Glancing at the alarm clock on my nightstand, the glowing red numbers informed me that it was somewhere around one in the morning. I rolled over to go back to sleep, when I heard it again- a voice. Now I was definitely no stranger to hearing voices by any means, but the familiarity of it bothered me enough to at least get up and investigate.

Throwing back the covers, I padded over to the window, my sleep bleary eyes seeing a figure standing in the lawn at the side of the house. Rubbing the tiredness out of my eyes, I grabbed the bottom of the window and hauled it open, the voice I was hearing now becoming crystal clear.

"Ivan! Ivy! Are you there?" Ethan called, swaying a bit like a flag in a gentle breeze.

"Ethan!" I hissed, nervously looking around the dead neighborhood. "It's one in the morning! Are you drunk?"

"I- I just wanted to see you! Can you please come down?" He yelled back.

I sighed. "Ethan, you should really go home and get some rest. Do you need me to walk you back?" I asked with a chuckle, although I was partly serious since he clearly had a little to drink.

"Please come down, Ivan!" He simply yelled again.

I cringed, looking back into my room, worrying about getting Ethan to shut up before he wakes the entire neighborhood.

"Ivan-"

"Alright, alright! I'll come down, but you need to be quiet, Ethan," I placate him before slamming the window shut. Running my hand through my hair, I took inventory of what I was currently wearing. Red plaid pajama pants and a grey t-shirt, completely suitable for standing around outside for God knows how long. I threw on a dark grey sweater last minute before rushing downstairs as quietly as I could, opening the front door to the freezing night air. I slid on my converse before stepping down from the porch, jogging across the front lawn to the side of the house. Crossing my arms, my teeth started to chatter slightly as I was finally able to get a good look at Ethan. He was still wearing his pinstripe suit, one of the suspenders was undone and his white undershirt untucked. He had a dopey smile on his face as I approached him, shivering slightly against the cold, even though Ethan seemed to be unaffected.

"Hey," he whispered, a new tenderness to his face that made me falter a bit.

"Come on, Ethan. Let's get you home," I encouraged, turning to head down the street towards his house.

"Wait, I-" he breathed, rubbing his hand down his face. "I need to say this," he muttered into his palm as I raised an eyebrow and turned towards him again.

"Ethan-?" I started to ask, becoming increasingly concerned.

"I like you, Ivan," he blurted, looking at me with a burning gaze. "Like- like I don't want to just be friends. I don't want to lose you but I can't-" he sighed, looking across the empty street with watery eyes. "It's too painful to be near you and pretend like we're nothing more," he sniffed, glancing back at me with the most vulnerable, pleading look in his eyes.

I chuckled, shaking my head slightly at how foolish we both were. "I like you too, Ethan," I whispered, my voice breaking as I started to get emotional too. I felt like I was choking on the joy that was coursing through me.

"R-really?" He asked, a wide grin breaking out across his face. I nodded, not trusting my voice anymore as I bit my lip to try and contain the stupid smile trying to take over my face.

"Oh my God," he breathed, his body deflating like a thousand pounds had just been lifted off of his shoulders. "Can- can I kiss you?"

My heart began to pound, and I felt my eyes widen. Holy shit, now this was really happening. I nodded again like a pathetic bobble head, because apparently that was all I was physically capable of at the moment. Ethan surged forward, stopping half a foot in front of me as he reached up to hold my face. We both stared at each other, as though we were seeing one another for the first time, and I had never felt so safe and accepted with any other pair of eyes.

He gently ran his thumbs over my cheekbones, before pressing his lips against mine. I seriously felt like I was going to have a heart attack.

Ethan just kept his lips firmly against mine, probably thinking that if he started to move I'd really freak out. Once he pulled away, he gathered me into a tight embrace, one arm wrapped around my lower back, and I felt his other hand come up to rest against the base of my neck.

"I can feel how fast your heart is beating," he whispered in my ear. I closed my eyes and willed myself to relax, resting my face in the crook of his neck. I could still smell his woodsy cologne, a scent I have grown to love over the period of time I've known Ethan. I never wanted to move from where we were standing on the lawn, but a freezing breeze suddenly swept across my neck and chilled me to the bone, reminding me why that wish wasn't exactly feasible.

Ethan pulled away with a frown. "You're shaking. Come on let's get inside," he grabbed my hand and turned around quickly, most likely being reminded that he was still a little tipsy with the sharp turn. I laughed, walking up next to him and slinging his arm around my neck.

"I- I can walk," he protested.

"I'm sure you can," I quip back, as we began our slow journey to the porch. Getting him up the porch and maneuvering us through the front door without making much noise was difficult enough, but trying to haul him up the stairs was an even bigger challenge. Ethan wasn't proving to be much help, more focused on stifling his laughter than trying to support his own weight. I had never been so grateful to have a room right next to the stairs than I had been in that moment carrying a drunk Ethan. When we finally made it into my room, I made sure Ethan was steady on his feet before turning around to rifle through my dresser, searching for some sweat pants Ethan could wear. Eventually, I found some light grey joggers towards the bottom that I remember were slightly too big, so I grabbed those and straightened up to turn back around.

"I think these could- oh my God!" I shriek, slapping my hands over my eyes. For someone who was struggling to walk straight, he could sure strip down to his boxers fast!

"What?" He asked.

"Just- here, put these on. Tell me when I can look," I said, holding the pants out blindly in front of me. I felt him take them from my hand, and after a second, gave me the green light to look.

Opening my eyes, I was now face to face with a very shirtless guy, although he was now wearing pants. At this point, I was too tired to care, and simply shuffled back over to my bed, crawling under the covers. Ethan still stood there awkwardly, so I scooted over and lifted the covers for him to get in. I had my first kiss only a few minutes ago, and was already well out of my comfort zone, so I figured I might as well keep rolling with it.

"Are you sure? I don't want to push it and make you uncomfortable, I'll just sleep on the floor-"

"Ethan," I deadpanned, exhaustion was really starting to hit me like a truck now that the adrenaline was wearing off. "It's fine, just get in."

Not needing to be told twice, Ethan hurried over and slid under the sheet, turning over on his side and slinging an arm over my waist. "This okay?" He asked in concern. With my eyes already closed, I simply hummed my approval, and it didn't take long for sleep to pull me back under.

~

Once I was awake and fully alert, I realized that I had a big problem on my hands. There is now a boy in the house that was not here the night before, and said boy is currently on top of me. Ethan had his face shoved in the crook of my neck, and his arm thrown over my chest, pinning me to the bed. How in the hell was I even able to sleep like that?

Turning my head to the side to look at the time, my eyes widened in fear, the red numbers showing it was only three minutes to ten. Mrs. Clarissa had a strict rule of no sleeping past ten on the weekends, and if we weren't up by then-

"Ivan! Time for breakfast! What are you doing sleeping in so late? Even Mary is up before you!" Benji's muffled voice shouted through the door.

My eyes widened even further, and I laid there frozen, my eyes darting from the door to Ethan's body on top of mine.

The door creaked open as Benji stepped into my room. "Mrs. Clarissa said to get you- oh shit."

Benji and I made eye contact, he was standing in the door frame with one hand still on the doorknob, another hand covering his mouth. He then started laughing, quickly shutting the door and running back downstairs, his howls of laughter echoing throughout the entire house. The slam of the door finally roused Ethan, who sat up disgruntled with some major bed head.

"What's happening?" He grumbled, rubbing his eyes. I sat up as well, looking over at him sheepishly, "breakfast?"

"Hell yeah I could go for breakfast," he grinned, kissing my nose before getting up and stretching. I stood, shaking my head and thinking about how very wrong this could go. Pulling out a t-shirt from my dresser, I threw it at Ethan, telling him to put it on.

"This is going to be awkward enough without you shirtless."

As we descended down the stairs, Benji glanced at us, biting his lip to try and stifle his laughter as he played with his oatmeal. Mary was busy pulling her toast apart, while Mrs. Clarissa was at the stove humming, pouring hot water from the tea kettle. Once we took a seat at the table, She had turned away from the stove, a cup of hot tea in her hand, and stopped dead in her tracks once she saw Ethan.

"Oh my," she breathed, her thin eyebrows shooting straight up as we took a seat at the table.

"Good morning Mrs. Clarissa, you have a lovely home," Ethan schmoozed, Mary kept trying to get his attention by waving her hands wildly, nearly smacking Benji in the face, and I wanted to dissolve in my chair.

"Well thank you Ethan, what a surprise! Would you like some breakfast?"

"I would, thank you ma'am."

As we ate, Mrs. Clarissa made pleasant conversation as she usually did during breakfast, always going around the table and giving everyone an opportunity to talk. It wasn't at all a shock that Ethan was also forced to participate.

"So, Ethan, do you know what you would like to do as a career?" She asked, looking over the rim of her mug as she took a sip of tea. Ethan looked up in surprise, having been previously very focused on buttering his toast, and he gave her a sleepy grin.

"Oh, I mean I haven't thought too much about it, but I'm kind've interested in psychiatry."

"Interesting," she mused, wrapping her frail looking hands around the coffee mug. "My husband was a psychiatrist, and also often worked as a psychologist too. He absolutely loved his job, good pay as well."

Ethan just smiled and nodded, giving me a sideways glance, probably confused as to why Mrs. Clarissa's husband had yet to make an appearance. Noticing his less than subtle look, she fixed a gentle smile on her face. "He passed away some time ago. I think you would be a great psychiatrist, it's a very honorable job that can help so many people."

"I agree, I just want to do some good in this world. Help people who are struggling heal," Ethan nodded, to which I remained steadfast in my concentration of peeling the crust off my bread, but I knew Mrs. Clarissa's gaze was trained on me.

Once we finished up breakfast, Ethan and I thanked Mrs. Clarissa for the food and company, and made our way back upstairs to my room.

Ethan groaned and rubbed a hand over his face as he sat down on the side of my bed and stared at his clothes piled up on the floor in distaste.

"I wish I would have gone home and changed into something more comfortable before making a scene in your yard," he grumbled.

I laughed and sat down next to him, "do you have a headache?"

He furrowed his eyebrows and shook his head, "luckily I don't, because I never meant to get that drunk. I made the decision to go to your house while I was still sober, right after I had gotten back home from dropping you off, but needed a lot of liquid courage to actually go through with it. I was scared shitless," he chuckled sadly. He suddenly gave me a really intense look, his eyes boring deep into my own. "I really hope I didn't put you in a situation where you felt like you had to accept me, that wasn't at all my intention, and now that things are a little less hazy, I realized that what I did wasn't fair to you, and I'm sorry. If you don't actually want this, you can tell me, I promise I'll understand."

I could feel my heart hammering in my chest, just like it did last night, and I grabbed his hand. Looking down at our entwined hands, I felt warmth bloom across my chest, and I smiled knowing that I was finally able to have Ethan, even if it took awhile to finally recognize that I had wanted him in the first place.

"I want this, I have wanted it. This- this isn't something I've ever done before, and I honestly had no idea what to do with all of those new emotions I was feeling. I-" laughing, I shook my head and continued, "I think we were both being dumbasses."

Ethan chuckled, wrapping his other arm around my waist and resting his cheek on top of my head. We sat there for a moment, the dark clouds outside carried the promise of rain and cast a dark, gloomy atmosphere over the room, but I couldn't help but feel anything except happiness.

~

We made it team! We got them together! Leave a vote if you're glad we finally got a first kiss.