Later that night, they walk to the bedroom hand-in-hand. Edward wishes he could tie knots in the laces of their fingers to always bind them together. They kiss gently, and Edward helps Garrett with his nighttime routine. The scars are still there but somehow he doesn't see them, too busy caught up in helping Garrett get ready. When they walk back to the bedroom, Garrett leaning on him as he walks, Edward feels strong enough to hold up the world.
Garrett told Edward once that he sleeps with a light on to get help orient him after nightmares, and Edward slept with a light on that whole week so he could accustom himself to sleeping with it. When he stops short of turning the bedside lamp off, inside leaving it on low, the soft sigh Garrett gives makes his heart kick in his chest.
Their hands roam as they settle in, and before long they're skin-to-skin. Garrett twists himself up in the sheets of Edward's bed, needy whimpers escaping his throat. Edward's hand moves too softly, only gripping Garrett's cock lightly.
"More, more, more," Garrett pleads, and Edward lives for this. The moments where his touch is the most important thing in the world, the only thing that exists.
Edward kisses Garrett's cheek, the rasp of stubble against his lips making his own erection impossibly harder. "Want you," he whispers.
"Want you too, please, please," Garrett whispers, voice cracking and turning into a whine. "Inside me, want you inside."
Everything inside Edward slows and then stops, and he pulls back to stare into Garrett's eyes. Green meets ink-black, both seeing so much more than just the face before them. They see years of pain, separate yet somehow shared, years of aching, yearning hearts. And they're both laid bare now, bodies wrapped together, naked in ways that have nothing to do with clothes.
He'd heard of seeing stars but when Garrett's lips touch his, he sees whole constellations. His hands roam and stroke down Garrett's body, fingers mapping muscle and bone. Edward covers him, surrounds him, Garrett's body caged within his as he kisses his way down to tensed cords of Garrett's neck.
"Top drawer," Edward says. He hears the sounds of Garrett fumbling with the nightstand and then nothing but silence. He looks up, but Garrett's eyes flit away as soon as theirs meet.
"Baby?"
"I probably can't do many positions," Garrett says quietly, eyebrows pulling together. "We might only be able to do it with you on top, or…" His teeth dig into his lip, hard enough to bleed. "I don't know if it'll be good for you like that. I don't think my thighs will hold if I try to kneel, even on the mattress, and—"
"I love you, Garrett."
Garrett doesn't speak. Instead his whole body gives one long, wracking shudder.
Edward uncurls Garrett's fingers from around the plastic bottle he's holding, grasping it and opening the lid. The click echoes around the room and Garrett shudders again.
When Edward's mouth moves over his cock, tongue curling around the head, Garrett whimpers again. Lower this time, but still full of need. When Edward swallows him down deep, Garrett cries out sharply. When Edward's fingers, slippery with lube, move down past Garrett's balls and into soft, secret skin, Garrett arches his back and begs for more.
This time, Edward gives him it.
He works his fingers in and out, stretching and prepping. All the while, he kisses and licks his way around Garrett. He tongues the sharp angle of a hipbone, the crease of a thigh, the thick ridge at the tip of Garrett's cock.
He adds another finger and curls it slightly, and Garrett groans so gritty and deep that this time, Edward's the one who shivers. He shifts so he can get a condom from the drawer. Garrett watches as Edward rolls it down his dick, hand fisting tight around the base.
"Can't wait to be inside you, baby," Edward tells him.
Garrett smiles.
It's so unexpected but so not, because his boy is endlessly fucking sweet. Edward smiles back before picking up the lube and warming some between his hands before slicking it across his cock. Then Garrett's legs are spreading wide, and Edward's between them and right there. He kisses Garrett again as he positions himself, tasting the gasp Garrett gives when he pushes forward. He thrusts forward gently a few times, situating himself, his heart beating out of his chest.
Garrett's hands are all over him, rough fingers but a trembling touch. Edward's inside the man he loves, and everything is beautiful.
Bliss.
He goes softly at first, cautious, though it's not long until Garrett's pushing back on to him. "That's it," Edward tells him. "My boy, so greedy for my cock."
"Just for you, Daddy."
"Good boy."
Garrett comes alive under the praise, those little whines that drive Edward crazy starting up again. Edward feels Garrett's hand snake between them, sneaking toward his cock.
"No, Garrett. Let me take care of you."
Garrett just nods, head pressing back into the pillow. Edward angles his hips until he hears Garrett moan, and then he snaps forward until he's rubbing over the spot with every thrust.
"Wanna fuck you through the mattress, baby."
He almost does just that. His pace is punishing but he's not, instead kissing Garrett everywhere he can reach. Edward wraps his hand around Garrett's cock when he feels his orgasm getting closer, Garrett's grunts pushing him almost over the edge.
"Come for me, sweetness. Come so Daddy can come inside you."
The groan that Garrett gives as the first ribbon of cum paints his chest sounds torn from deep inside him. Edward strokes faster until Garrett's chest is covered, and then he stares at the mess as he drives his cock deep inside.
"Love you, Daddy," Garrett whispers just before Edward comes, and it's all Edward can do to keep breathing.
He comes in endless pulses, floating so high he doesn't think he'll ever come back down. His hands stroke Garrett's face, but he's barely aware of it. He's spinning somewhere far away, caught up on the edge of oblivion. All he feels is sensation, all he knows is love, and he wonders if this is how a phoenix feels after its rebirth.
He manages to roll off Garrett long minutes later. "Fuck," he says, all deep, low growl, one arm thrown across his eyes as he hopelessly tries to catch his breath. Edward looks back at Garrett - beautiful, shining like the first break of sun over a horizon; unrestrained like the seconds when a smile becomes a laugh.
He stares for a few seconds, dazed by all the beauty before him. His eyes drop to take in the rest of Garrett's body, slumped and sated across rumpled sheets, and then they close. "Fuck," Edward says again, but this time it's gentle.
Garrett curls up on his side, his big body seeming so tiny as it burrows into Edward's. He kisses Edward's cheek, his lips lingering. His voice is shy, his words just a whisper. "Thank you for loving me."
Edward can't speak, but if he could he'd tell Garrett the same back. Because that's how he feels, all the way down to his bones.
Endlessly, infinitely grateful.