Mason thought he was hallucinating.

He hadn't expected Ana to feel for him as deeply as he did her, so for her to actually say it was an even bigger shock.

"You do?" The question had escaped his mouth before he could stop it. He felt like facepalming as he realized what he'd just asked. Way to invalidate a girl's feelings you fucking dumbass.

He shook his head to clear his thoughts as Ana responded, "I wouldn't exactly lie about something like that," and grinned. She looked so pretty just then, and Mason wondered how such a beautiful person even existed.

"That's a relief," he repeated and pretended to wipe off sweat from his forehead.

Ana giggled in response before reaching forward to wrap her arms around his waist and Mason sighed with complete satisfaction as he rested his cheek on her head.

There was just something about being there in that instant. He couldn't quite explain it but the sensation of her body pulled tight against his, the smell of her hair just centimeters away, and the sound of her breathing made him suddenly feel so- feel such- . There was no word in existence that could possible even begin to describe it.

It was such a wonderfully fucking perfect moment.

But reality wasn't always so perfect. "I should probably go," Ana stepped away slightly.

"You probably should," Mason reluctantly agreed as he let his hands trail down her arms and wrists before he linked their fingers together.

"The eighth," her fingers tightened around his. "I expect you to be in this very spot," she jokingly demanded.

Mason laughed despite how heavy his chest felt; who knew he could miss someone before they even left? "While I would love to promise you with my entire dumbass heart that I will be in this exact spot, the universe might have other plans."

Ana gasped abruptly, as though she was absolutely appalled. "How dare you," she crossed her arms over her chest with a loud huff. "I cannot believe that you would even think of meeting me somewhere else. Absolutely unacceptable. I demand to break up right this instant."

"Humblest apologies, my dear princess," he played along. "Would you be able to spare me just this once, my lady?" He decided he would go all out and kneeled with one hand over his heart and the other behind his back.

Ana's eyes widened before she cleared her throat and glared down at Mason. Why was it that she looked especially alluring from this angle? "I suppose I could. On one condition," she raised a single eyebrow, "You give me that."

Mason glanced down to where she was gesturing, eyebrows furrowing when he didn't see anything. "Give you-," he trailed off as he finally realized how red her face had gotten. It was slightly difficult to see in the current lighting but she was definitely blushing. "My shirt?"

"Yes," she cleared her throat again. "Now."

That was so fucking hot.

He stood with a small flourish before bending at the waist to decrease the distance between them. "As you wish, princess;" purposefully muttered directly into her ear. He nuzzled his nose against her ear, breathing her in before he forced himself to move away.

He followed Ana's instruction, tugging off the plain t-shirt he was currently donning before handing it to her. Mason noticed her eyes straying to his chest and he laughed to himself when her gaze trailed further down.

Holy fuck, he wanted to kiss her so badly right now. And maybe do a few other things to.

He absentmindedly wondered how the royal family would react if they ever found out what he was currently thinking about doing with their golden princess.

He immediately pushed the thought aside; now was not the time.

"Why the hell do you want my shirt," Mason laughed as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

She shrugged, "It smells like you. Besides," she slipped the shirt over her jacket. He had to admit it looked slightly ridiculous, but also so fucking cute on her that he didn't really care. "It looks good on me, doesn't it?"

"It does," he agreed with a soft smile. He shivered then, and they both seemed to finally notice the cold. Despite there being a light layer of snow on the ground, Mason hadn't even realized how fucking freezing it actually was until he had literally taken off his clothes. "Shit."

"Oh my goodness," Ana suddenly whispered. Her eyes widened as he started rubbing his hands on his arms to gather warmth. "I just made you take off your shirt and it's literally snowing."

While it wasn't technically snowing at the current moment he didn't bother to correct her. "Hey- what- no." She started taking his shirt off and he realized she was trying to give it back. Now that just wouldn't do at all. "It's yours until you come back, you got that? Even if I get frostbite you are keeping that fucking shirt on."

"You're going to get frostbite?!"

Mason held back a laugh, "No, no; I'm not going to get frostbite. I was just being a dramatic dumbass," he jokingly rolled his eyes.

Ana didn't look convinced in the slightest. "Go on," he urged. "You need to leave or I just might decide to kidnap you so you won't even be able to." That got her to giggle slightly and he grinned with relief.

"Okay," she nodded. "I'll be back," she slowly started backing away, "I love you!"

"I love you too," he called back just as she started running back towards the entrance of the building.

Fuck; It felt so good to finally say that.

~~~

"I told Paris that I love her." It was weird to use Ana's fake name now, Mason had gotten so used to using her real one that it felt wrong to refer to her with any other.

Both Carly and Josh started choking at the random statement, despite having not even been eating or drinking anything in the first place. "You did what," Josh finally managed to get out.

Mason sighed, "I said I love you to Paris," he rephrased. Maybe that would help them get it.

"And you're only now telling us?!" Carly's voice was so loud Mason visibly cringed, reaching up to instinctively block his ears.

"Jesus fuck," he hissed. "Calm down woman; it's literally only been a few hours."

She scoffed and stood from her spot on the couch, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at him. "A few hours?! You dropped her off at three this morning. Three! It's almost noon!"

"I was asleep," he defended.

Josh interrupted before they could continue arguing, "So what? You just told her you loved her and she left? Just like that? Talk about rejection."

It was Mason's turn to glare now. "She didn't reject me you asshole. She actually came running back to me," his roommates scoffed simultaneously. "I'm serious. She ran back and said she loved me too." He felt himself smiling just at the memory.

"Really?" Mason was slightly offended by how skeptical Carly sounded.

"Yes really," he rolled his eyes. "Anyways I just wanted to tell you guys and now I've told so we can move on."

They stared at him for a few long moments and Mason tried to refocus on the show still playing before ultimately giving up when they wouldn't look away. "Why the sudden lovey-dovey shit? Did you guys have sex or something," Josh asked when he turned back towards them.

"Awe-," Carly cooed dramatically. "Look at baby Mason finally losing his V."

"You're literally two fucking months older than me," he deadpanned. "And - for your information - we didn't have sex. I'm still a virgin, not that it's any of your business."

Whilst Mason had been in quite a few relationships up until that point, he hadn't ever actually had sex before. It had never felt right, and he had realized a long time ago that he needed to have an emotional connection with someone to even be sexually attracted to them.

And he'd never even formed such a strong bond with someone until Ana.

Sure he had developed some sort of emotional connection with his past partners, but never to the point of wanting to have sex with them. Whenever it had been brought up in the relationship, it had only made him uncomfortable.

It was safe to say his partners didn't exactly appreciate his reasoning when he tried to explain it.

Plus it still felt a bit too early; they had only been dating for a couple months now. He wanted it to mean something - for both of them. And they hadn't even ventured into anything more than heavy kissing so there was almost no chance that either of them were ready for sex.

It would probably be a while before they even talked about sex. And he was okay with that; more than okay even, he was kind of glad. Just the idea made him slightly nervous.

Was performance anxiety still a thing? If it was, Mason was pretty sure he had it.

Josh's voice broke Mason out of his train of thought then and he blinked as he tried to remember what they had been talking about.

Oh yeah; his sex life. How fun.

"What does she even see in you man? You're a complete ass," Mason unconsciously nodded in agreement. "You literally started a whole ass prank war with her." Shit. Speaking of. He may or may not have slept in Ana's bed last night and completely forgotten his own was still on the ceiling. Maybe.

"And you aren't even giving her good dick," Mason coughed uncomfortably. "Do you think it's your cooking? You make some damn good food."

Mason shrugged, "Your guess is as good as mine."

~~~