Rae thought she was still dreaming when her window creaked open, followed by the soft thump of feet on the carpet. She began to roll over when she felt her bed dip and sat bolt upright in alarm. "Fuckin' hell!"

"Alright?" said Finn, looking a bit smug.

"You – you came through my window," she sputtered.

"D'you mind?"

"Course not. I just – weren't you s'posed to be out with Chop tonight?" she said, scrubbing at her eyes and feeling the sudden rush of warmth that turned her stomach to butterflies whenever he came near.

"I did. But I sorta, well, missed you. An' stuff." He grinned, shrugging a little bit.

"My mum and Karim are asleep down the hall," she scolded, unconvincingly. "Your bike's not out front, is it?"

"That's not giving me much credit, is it?"

"Cheeky bastard," Rae whispered. She adjusted her nightdress against her shoulders and saw his eyes follow the movement. It was enough to make her blush. "You staying the night, then?" she asked, wincing when her voice squeaked a little. Finn smiled widely, his eyes crinkling up. "Well, take your boots off, then," she said, talking to cover up the furious tattoo her heart was beating against her ribs, which she was sure he could hear in the quiet. She watched him wrestle his boots off, back to her, and bit at her thumbnail as he took off his jacket, the muscles of his shoulders contracting against his t-shirt. Is he going to take off his shirt, she wondered, or am I s'posed to do that for him? What about his jeans? Are they going to come off, too? This last thought brought with it such a heady mixture of anxiety and anticipation that she had to remind herself to breathe.

It had been two days since the wedding. Two days of hands held under tables, of messages traced on palms and thighs, of kisses – first shy and chaste, then increasingly urgent – stolen in doorways and alleys, of Finn's hand plucking at the neck of her shirt, of - … But Rae had a new stepfather to get to know, and additional sessions with Kester, and the short of it was that they hadn't been properly alone, not for any length of time. They'd listened to records in his room yesterday, and after he'd changed the record he took her hand and traced "I W-A-N-T" against her skin and nibbled at her neck, but then Chop had barged in and put an end to things.

She felt Finn's eyes on her and dragged herself back into the present. "What you thinkin' of?" he asked.

"What you thinkin' of?" she deflected. Finn smiled and pressed his forefinger against her bare arm. She shivered and he smirked a little, writing "K-I-S-S-I-N-G Y-O-U."

"You want to?" she asked, the self-deprecating question slipping out before she could stop it. "Course I do," Finn said, furrowing his brow. "Don't you want me to kiss you?" She nodded fervently. It was stupid, how being in her room, in her bed, in the dark, made everything so – different. But Finn seemed to feel it, too, because he was carefully deliberate in his actions, folding his jacket and setting it next to his boots on the floor and then turning back the duvet cover to slip in alongside her. Now the length of his body was pressed up against hers, his leg sliding between hers. She caught her breath. He trailed his fingers along her neck and turned her face towards his. He had that slightly cross-eyed look that meant he was about to – Rae felt anticipation everywhere, in her hair, in her skin, in her lips, between her – Oh.

His mouth brushed gently over hers, just the slightest impression of a kiss before moving back, and she found herself pulling at his shirt, his hair, desperate to bring him back. She heard him chuckle before he pressed his lips back against hers in a shallow, aching kiss that pulsed through her whole body. He tasted like cigarettes and alcohol, like the song, and… Rae brought her hands up into his hair and felt his tongue trace the line of her upper lip. They were both breathing heavily now, lower and deeper, and when he kissed her again it was with greater intimacy than she could have imagined. His hand cradled her head and he plunged his tongue into her mouth with a ferocity that made her arch against him.

Not breaking the kiss, Finn slid her down on the bed and rolled on top of her, covering her body with his. When they had to stop kissing to breathe – Rae's came in short rattling gasps and she felt Finn's heart pounding against her – he eased his warm hand inside the neck of her nightdress and around her back, raising a fiery trail on her skin.

She tensed. She had never been touched under her clothes before; the fumbles with Archie happened above her shirt and jeans. Rae didn't know if she ought to stop him and tell him this is where her experience ended – but Finn seemed to read it in her eyes because his hand went still against her back and he raised himself up on his elbow. "Is it alright?" he whispered. "Or d'you want me to stop?" His voice vibrated in her ear and sent shivers down her spine. "No," she breathed, "don't stop…"

Finn buried his face in her neck, and his hand slipped round to cover her breast.

The door down the hall creaked open and they both froze at the sound of footsteps. Scarcely daring to breathe they heard the door to the loo shut, Rae acutely conscious of Finn's hand still cupping her breast. They giggled, silently, Rae feeling Finn's smile against her collarbone, listening to Karim take a noisy piss. They didn't move until the toilet flushed, the footsteps retreated, and the door shut.

Amazed at her own bravery, Rae reached round to pull the shirt over Finn's head. It got tangled in his earring, his hair, and they were both heaving with silent laughter again when he was finally free of it. Rae pressed her hands against his chest – he was finally hers to touch, skin taut over muscles, this was the way his chest felt, his stomach, the tiny hairs at the waist of his jeans –

Finn stiffened. She looked up and saw his eyes were black and glittering in the moonlight pouring in from the open window. "Finn…" she whispered. He was breathing heavily as he caught her hand and held it away from his body.

"Fuck, Rae, let me do something, please let me do something for you – "

His voice was ragged and uneven and she dug her nails into his back. He groaned and grabbed her firmly by the hips to bring their bodies flush against each other. "What d'you like?" he whispered in her ear.

"Finn, I – I don't know – "

He blew hot air against her cheek. "What d'you think you like?"

His eyes were so dark and determined that she had to look away, shifting slightly. "I don't know," she repeated miserably. "No one's ever made me come before, I don't know what – "

"But you've made yourself come, yeah?" Finn said, his voice husky.

When Rae had made herself come, it was to a fantasy involving Finn dressed in a helmet, breastplate, and leather skirt. She didn't know if now was the time to explain that, so she just nodded, blushing furiously and fixing her gaze over Finn's shoulder at a picture of Jarvis Cocker.

"Hey, you gotta look at me – " With an effort she wrenched her eyes back to him. "You – fuck… you fuckin' turn me on so much," he said in a rush. "You could make me come without fuckin' touchin' me, Rae, I swear. I wanna make you – "

"You don' have to touch me," Rae said hastily. She knew her body was an imposition, something unsightly best kept under layers of clothing, he was being polite, he couldn't possibly want to –

Finn slid his hands up her thighs, gentle over the scars, under her nightdress to grasp the waistband of her knickers. Rae scarcely had time to register what he was doing when he pulled her knickers down in a smooth movement. He sucked hard at her shoulder, his fingers trailing circles on her inner thighs, closer and closer to –

"You don' have to," she breathed, breath hitching in her throat. "You don' have to – "

"You're tryna kill me, Rae – shit! I wanna make you come… I'm gonna – tell me what you like, what feels alright, so's next time you can boss me – " He urged her legs apart with his hand. She nearly cried out when he finally touched her and Finn swallowed her noise with his mouth against hers. "Shh, shh," he mumbled into her mouth. Rae scarcely heard him. "Are my fingers alright?" he asked a moment later. "Not too rough, or – "

"Shh, Finn, shut the fuck up – "

He shuddered against her, fingers still moving. Dizzily, Rae reached up to fumble with his belt, but Finn stopped her with his free hand. "Next time," he gasped. "Now – for you – "

In a soft whisper against her ear, he began to tell her what he was doing to her, asking her what felt good, what didn't – to Rae it all felt good, fucking brilliant, but Finn wouldn't take that, he demanded more, until Rae was frantically tracing words on his back: "Y-E-S" "T-H-E-R-E" "M-O-R-E" "F-I-N-N" – Her hips strained against him and his were moving too, even though he wasn't on top of her now, but lying beside her, propped on one elbow. His eyes were black with – something – as they bored into hers, and when she came against him she thought she would drown in them.

They held each other quietly afterwards, feeling their heart rates slowly return to normal. Finn looked at her, smiling. "I liked makin' you come," he said. Rae smiled back, wrinkling her nose at him. He squinted back and added wickedly, "I never heard me name so many times."

"Cheeky," Rae whispered back. But then a sobering thought crossed her and she bit her lip. "Not even from the others? Other girls – "

"Never from the others," he reassured her. "An' I weren't sayin' theirs, either, not like I say yours."

"I wanna make you come, too," Rae said a few minutes later. "Fair's fair."

"We're not keepin' score, Rae."

"I want to," she said. "But I've never done that either – you'll have to show me - "

So he did.