A/N: My ducks!

What can I say except thanks for sticking with me.

Edward couldn't remember a time he'd been so relaxed. Fucked boneless. He thought he'd heard the term somewhere. Maybe read it in a book. Now, he knew it was no flight of fancy. His bones had turned warm and liquid. His brain was in much the same state. It had been a solid ten minutes since he'd finally caught his breath and coherent thought had yet to return to him.

He lay face down on his bed, his head cradled in his arms. If there was a chill in the room, his warm, pliant body hadn't registered it. He was lost to the sensation of fingers skimming along his bare skin.

Grinning, he rolled his head to the side. His smile fell into something gentler when he saw the look on Emmett's face. It was such a serene, tender expression. Edward was struck breathless as a thought sunk into him. This man adored him; it was written all over his face.

And that was…

Wow.

Emmett's fingers trailed up to his hair. Edward's eyes about rolled up into his head. There wasn't much better than the feeling of being stroked, petted—his hair carefully tousled. He was so content. Happy.

There was no trace of annoyance in his voice when he finally remembered how to word. "You know… I'm not fragile."

Emmett's fingers stilled from where he'd been tracing lazy circles behind Edward's ear. He furrowed his brow. "What?" He rolled onto his back, an arm behind his head.

"I know we've had to take it slow." Edward rolled onto his side. He was momentarily distracted, his eyes drawn to the lines of Emmett's body and the tattoos decorating his skin. He was so damn beautiful. The tapestry of his skin still had so many stories left to be read.

Emmett snapped his fingers under Edward's chin, drawing his attention up. He smirked. "You were saying?"

Edward cleared his throat and winked, but when he spoke, his tone was serious. "You touched me like you thought I was going to break. I'm just saying, you don't have to do that." He splayed his hand over Emmett's chest, feeling his heartbeat beneath his palm. "I trust you."

"Whoa." Emmett blinked, his eyes fathomless as he worried his bottom lip between his teeth. He chuckled—the sound uncharacteristically quiet. "I don't think anyone's ever said that to me about anything." He swallowed hard, reaching up to trace the line of Edward's jaw. "I take that seriously, you know? Your body… Yeah. That's big. It's a gift. Trust is a gift. I know that." His hand, so large and yet inexplicably tender, cupped Edward's cheek. "But thinking you're fragile? That's not why I touched you like that."

Edward's heart began to pound, his throat gone tight. "No?" he asked, his tone gone gravelly.

"No." Emmett shifted, taking him by the waist. In a swift movement, Edward found himself on his back, surrounded with Emmett's arms and knees on either side of him. The other man leaned in, pressing a soft kiss to his lips before straightening up. He pressed a thumb to Edward's lips. "You're precious."

Emmett laughed again, and this time the sound was nervous. He rubbed the back of his head. "That's…uh, flowery. I'm not…" He huffed, rolling his eyes skyward. "I'm not good. With the words. And Harry Potter isn't exactly rife with romance, so it's not like I can steal those words."

"Shhhh." Edward's grin grew wide and he put a hand over Emmett's mouth. "You were doing okay until you started babbling. But the good news is, it sounded a lot like Harry trying to talk to Cho, so Harry Potter helped you after all."

"Well, maybe I'll ask you to the Yule Ball." He waggled his eyebrows, but his grin fell quickly. He looked away, running a hand through his hair.

"Hey." Edward sat up. He tapped Emmett's knee. "You're not thinking about what you'd look like in Ron Weasley's dress robes, are you? Because you're right. It would be funny, and I'd have to laugh at you. Wait. No. You haven't seen that movie yet. No spoilers."

"Now who's babbling?" Emmett shook his head and pressed a lingering kiss to his lips. "No, let me see if I can figure out how to say this."

He was quiet for a few seconds, stroking the back of Edward's neck as he thought. "Growing up in foster care… you don't have much, you know? You learn not to get attached. People. Stuff. You never know when you're going to have to move on. Or when some prick is going to destroy what little you have."

He met Edward's eyes, serious for once. "You were so pretty beneath me. And the way you looked at me…" He swallowed hard. "When I was a kid and there was something I wanted to keep, to protect, I came up with a plan." He laughed. "One time, a foster dad gave me a pocket knife for my birthday. Damn, I loved that thing. I didn't want to leave it to be found by this dick of a foster brother I had then, so I'd duct tape it to me. Course, they found it one day at school, and I got in all kinds of trouble. I'm always good at trouble."

He sighed and his smile then was more wistful. "I know who I am. What I am. I'm trying to be a better man, but I know it's an uphill battle. I'm probably never going to have a good, steady job. I'm probably never going to have much to offer. And you're a grown man. You can decide what's best for your own life. I can't strap you to me and make sure you stay." He shrugged, skimming his fingertips along Edward's cheek. "So I guess I tried to show you. You're… Yeah. Precious. That's just the word."

Edward's throat was so tight he had to swallow hard before he could speak. He wrapped his arms around Emmett's neck and kissed his chin, his nose, his lips. "You know what I think?"

"Hmm?" Emmett's fingers stroked up and down his back.

"I think you do just fine with the words."

A/N: Leave me some words. They help my words flow.