He's lying here, his chest rising and falling as the sound of his gentle breathing fills my ears. Sometimes if I listen closely, it almost sounds like he's purring. I lower my head closer to his face and listen. A smile spreads on my face as his breath tickles my cheek and I'm comforted by the deep, quiet breathy growls. His scent washes over me and I breathe him in. He has such a welcoming smell, a hint of his shower gel, sometimes coffee and then the pure, natural fragrance that is Christian Clarke. I love the way my clothes now smell of him. Christian begins to stir beneath me and his nose nudges my chin as he stretches. I sit up to watch him properly, nothing more entertaining to me than the sight of him waking in the morning. But he lazily slumps back down and continues with his sleep. I roll my eyes.

"Christian…" I whisper, giving him a soft nudge. But still he does not wake. "Oi." My voice is louder this time and my poke more provocative. He groans his protest and frowns, crumpling up that beautiful face I know so well. "Are you awake?" I lean over him, which is a dangerous move as sleepy yet strong arms wrap themselves around my waist and pull me down, trapping me in his embrace. He rolls us over and begins to get comfortable. I don't think he has any intention of getting up. "Chris-t-ian." I emphasise his name, but he just grips me tighter. Right, that's it. It takes a lot of strength but I manage to pull away from his tight grasp and as punishment I don't reward him with his morning kiss.

"Hey…!" A whiney voice calls me back. I look down at him and he's so hard to resist. His hair is in tufts sticking out all over the place in a collective mess, pure green eyes are squinting at me as they adjust to the newly found light, his hands move to rub them and he lets out a pathetic groan.

"Morning" I exclaim in a cheery voice as he pushes himself up on his elbow. His hands flop down as his face bears an 'I'm unimpressed' look. "Don't give me that look, you were the one who insisted we stayed up last night." I emphasise each of my points with a poke at his stomach. "You were the one who wouldn't let me sleep. And you were the one who woke me up at 4 this morning for 'snuggle time'." I remember him shuffling closer to me and whispering in my ear that he was cold and needed warming up. Typical Christian, really.

"But… you enjoy snuggling!" He looks hurt and his face is all sad.

I want to kiss him.

"At 4am?"

"You do, and don't you deny it." He folds his arms in a huff.

I want to kiss him so much. It's times like this when he's flouncy without even putting it on when he's quite adorable. If I tell him this, he get's even grumpier.

As the silence hangs in the air, he grins smugly as he knows he's right and he's won.

"Do you want coffee?" I ask, swiftly changing the subject.

"I know what else I want." His voice is dripping with sexual suggestion. I hit him on the head with a pillow.

"No."

He grabs my wrist as I attempt to move away, but I wriggle free and get off the bed, making my way to the kitchen. I can feel his gaze on me, and I know exactly what he's doing. "And stop mentally undressing me please." I hear him huff and slump back on the bed, I grin to myself as I reach for the kettle. "What are you doing today?"

"Not you." He mumbles. I pretend I don't hear that one.

"I was thinking we could go out or something."

"Out?"

"Yeah. We could go look at houses or something, if you like." I carefully stir the hot mug of coffee, patiently waiting for his reply. We'd been discussing moving out of this flat for a while now, and now feels like the perfect time to start looking.

"You want to go house hunting?" He's right behind me now and I jump, momentarily startled.

"It was just a suggestion, we've got loads of time anyway, let's go shopping or something, we need to go shopping, and then we can go out some place to eat and-" his lips are on my neck. Uh oh.

"Syed."

"Christian…" His wet tongue flicks against my pulse. "I made you coffee" I try not to squirm as he nibbles the skin below my ear.

"Thank you." It's practically a growl.

"So, um-"

"Shut up." He commands. I can feel the heat coming from his body in waves, I swear he's like a human radiator. His body presses closer to my back and strong arms slide around me. "I would love to look at houses with you."

My heart quickens a little and he can feel it. I hate the effect he has on me, but sometimes… I love it.

"Okay." I manage, resuming the stirring.

"I think that poor coffee's all stirred out, babe." He reaches forward for a mug and lifts it to his mouth, slurping it just by my ear. I laugh. "You want some?" I can feel him grin as he presses a kiss to my cheek and holds the mug up to my mouth for me to drink from.

"Can I ask you something?" He questions, placing the mug down onto the work surface after we'd had our share of coffee.

"Anything." I reply.

"How long have you known me?"

I start to count on my fingers, trying to remember just how long we'd been together, then how long he'd been my best friend. He laughs quietly at me as I work it out in my head but I ignore him.

"Two years and Seven months."

"And Twenty One days.." he whispers in my ear before continuing. "And by now I would've thought that we could talk about buying a house together without you getting all embarrassed."

I turn around in his embrace.

"I'm not!"

He raises an eyebrow in that cocky way he does. The way that makes me want to hit him and eat him all at the same time.

"You are." He grins, pressing further into me. "But it's so.." he presses a kiss to my jaw, "so.." and again, "cute." He finishes off by the corner of my mouth. I pull away teasingly.

"Even if I do know you inside out," I see a cheeky grin flash across his face and I hit him, "you know what I mean! Living with you is still a big deal."

"I know, I'm surprised you're not sick of me already."

"How could I ever get sick of you?" I patronisingly tell him, but we both know it's true. He rubs his nose against mine in a little Eskimo kiss.

"Next thing you know we'll be getting married."

My heart stops, and he freezes against me. I can tell he's cursing himself and wishing he'd never said that. I look into his eyes and I'm finding it quite hard to breathe, but I just can't break away from those emerald gems. My fingers play with the soft hairs at the back of his neck and his eyes flutter shut. It's a relief to be free from his intense gaze, but I swear in those brief seconds he allowed me to see his soul. My entire being is screaming at me, telling me to say something, but I can't. Instead I let my lips find his, and slowly, as if time could break if we move too fast, we press them together.

I feel a large hand slide up my chest, but he's not trying anything on and he's not being sexual, he's calm and slow. It rests above my heart as he feels it beating just for him. It's amazing to think that if this was a year ago, I would've been running as fast as anything away from this, but now.. I just want him. Our lips part and steady breaths find oxygen; my heart beats louder and thumps against my chest.

I know what he's thinking. He thinks he's a stupid idiot for saying anything, and he's worried he's going to scare me away by being too full on. He'll try and pull away any second now and pretend like nothing's happened.

As if on cue, he moves away.

"I hope you don't mind but there's something I really wanted to watch on TV." He smiles at me without meeting my gaze and makes to move into the other room.

I let out laugh.

He turns to me, a confused look on his face.

"Why are you laughing?"

"Because I know you so well." He still looks confused. "Just come here, alright?" I reach out my hand to him.

He walks back over to me, his lost little face so endearing.

"Don't apologise," I tell him, and he opens his mouth to speak but I shush him with a kiss. "Don't feel stupid" I take his hand in mine and link our fingers, "And don't make up crap excuses about wanting to watch the TV."

"It's not an excuse!"

"Oh what, you really want to watch Cash in the Attic?"

"Actually, Bargain Hunt."

I laugh until I realise he's being serious.

"Oh..."

"Gotcha." He grins, winding his arms around my hips and lifting me up off the floor. He's such a tease. And bloody strong too.

"Christian! Put me down."

"Nope." He grins up at me and I run my hands through his hair, playing with the soft strands and rearranging them until he looks perfect.

"I need a hair cut."

"No, I like it this length. I can play with it." I laugh as he cocks an eyebrow. He nuzzles his face into my chest, taking the fabric of my lime green shirt between his teeth.

"Why are you wearing this, eh?"

"It's your favourite. And I got cold." I admit.

"Oh baby, you should've said and I would've warmed you up!" he teases, placing kisses to my stomach.

"TV time." I point towards the sofa.

"Only if you promise we can cuddle."

I roll my eyes.

" Fine, I promise."

"Say it.."

"I promise we can cuddle."

"Good." He grins at me and makes his way slowly over to the sofa. He lays down on it and pulls me with him. My body moulds around his, and I lay comfortably on him. I rest my chin on his shoulder as his arms hold me close.

"Hey, Bargain Hunt isn't on this time in the morning."

"Yeah, I know," he sighs. "Looks like it's Jeremy Kyle then." His pokes his tongue in his cheek.

"What? No way."

He laughs, fluffing my hair.

"You love it."

"No, I really don't."

He picks up the remote and flicks through the channels.

"Plus he's hot."

I stare at him in disbelief.

"What?"

"I'm joking!" He grins.

"Idiot." I mumble, settling my head back in the crook of his neck.

"Oh hey, look! It's.. is that Tinky Winky?"

"The gay one off teletubbies?" I look at the screen, "Yeah, that's the one."

"He's not gay, is he?"

"He has a purse."

Christian bursts out laughing.

"Sy, that's so stupid. I always thought he had a thing going with that Po girl."

I reach for the remote and change the channel. "Hey! I was watching that."

"Children's TV is crap, apart from postman pat, and that one with the dog who's always naughty."

"Pippin?"

"Yeah! How do you know that one?"

"I watch it with Amy."

"Oh, yeah, me too…" He grins at me, planting kisses to my head.

We lay there for a while, laughing at the odd programmes that we come across. He tightens his grip on me a little and I look up at him.

"What."

He pulls me up slightly so I'm face to face with him.

"I thought you wanted to watch Tele." I tell him, playing with his messy hair again.

"I do, but you're much more interesting." He grins up at me, and I just can't resist him. I rest our foreheads together and he shuffles underneath me, getting comfortable.

"Hey so what house do you want to buy?" he asks, and I can hear the excitement in his voice as he nudges me.

"A big one, with two bathrooms so we don't fight over the mirror. And a garden and a nice kitchen. Oh and it has to have a nice bedroom, with a really big bed. And light coloured walls so we can paint them if we want. And a nice kitchen, too."

He laughs at me, stroking my back.

"Why does it have to be so big if it's just the two of us?"

"For when we get kids and a dog, stupid."

"Oh, I see." He bites my lip. "I like the sound of that. Don't forget the car as well. We're getting a nice car."

"Just so you can look hot riding around in a flash car."

"Don't be silly. I'm hot without the car." He winks and I nudge him.

"We should go soon."

He sits up and I move with him. "Mm you're comfortable." I murmur, holding onto his neck.

"Come on you, shower." Smiling down at me, he gives me a gentle kiss and helps me off the sofa. He takes my hand and leads me to the bathroom.

"Christian.."

He turns to me, his face glowing with the unmistakable look of happiness.

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

The look on his face every time I tell him is the best thing anyone could give me. I just can't resist it when he's this happy.

His mouth is on mine, warm and inviting. His lips part mine and his tongue slides deliciously against my teeth. I groan as his fingers thread through my hair, he pulls me into the bathroom and shuts the door behind us.