"Hold onto me," he says. The sun has almost completely set now, and the cold air is only being exacerbated by being so close to the lake.

"You sure about this?" I ask. "Maybe I should just teleport myself back."

"And end up three miles from the school?" he asks dryly.

"I'm a good runner," I say, wrapping my arms around him. "I can run."

"Hold on," he repeats, and I close my eyes as we teleport from the beach, back outside his room.

"You know it would be a lot easier if we could just teleport in and out of your room," I say as he unlocks the door.

He shrugs. "It's just safer if no one can get in at all."

It's suddenly awkward, just the two of us, standing in his room, even if we are husband and wife. "Can I use your shower?" I ask.

"Don't you have your own shower?"

"Well it's a shared shower, but it's all the way over in the dorms." I shift from foot to foot and I can hear him sigh with exasperation. "Okay, you know what? No, nevermind." I shake my head. "See, this is one of the things that I was worried about. I know you value your privacy and your space and I don't want to push too much too fast."

"It's going to take some adjusting," he admits. "You can use my shower, but I get to use it first."

"Fair enough," I sigh, sitting on the floor by the door. "I'll just, wait here then. I don't want to track sand everywhere."

He disappears into the bathroom and I lean my head back against the wall, taking in my surroundings. I've always considered it his room, but if we're married and going to stay that way, isn't it my room too now? I sigh to myself. I do feel a bit better about this whole thing. This whole summer, I was always stressed about the January deadline, but now we've been married for over a year, even if I haven't been totally aware of it, and he's going to give it an actual chance. There is no deadline. As long as we're happy together and I don't push too hard, we should be fine….hopefully.

It doesn't take him long to shower, and he emerges from the bathroom with his lower half wrapped in a towel. I at first look away, averting my eyes upwards, before I dare myself to glance back at him. The image of him from my dream hadn't been far off at all. He was thin, but surprisingly muscular, toned with definition. It made sense; magic wasn't just a mental pursuit, it was physical too. "Should I get you a towel to mop up your drool?" he asks dryly as he turns away from me.

"Drool?" I echo. "Please, I've seen plenty of topless guys." He shoots me a look. "At the beach? I mean, I know you like to spend a lot of time indoors, but I swear it's like you were just there-"

"Maybe you should shower before I send you back to your dorm for the night," he warns.

I hold up my hands in surrender and walk into the bathroom, shutting the door behind me. It's not a very big bathroom, but it's nice. Beige tiles, mirror against one wall, shower against the other. I put my dirty clothes in a corner of the bathroom on the floor on top of my sneakers, folding them neatly before starting the hot water in the tub and jumping in. It feels weird using his shampoo and body wash, and I wonder idly if people will eventually find out that we started to smell like each other. The hot water feels really good, and the water pressure is much better than the dorm showers, but I don't want to stay in here too long. I get out relatively quickly, grabbing a spare towel and drying off my long hair as best I can. I wrap the towel around myself as I realize that I don't have any clean clothes to put on.

"Umm," I step out of the bathroom hesitantly, barefoot, wrapped only in the towel. Hieronymous is in bed reading a book. He immediately looks up when I step out, and his eyes look me up and down as color dots his cheeks. "Can I…borrow some clothes?"

"If you must," he says as he gestures to the wardrobe. His voice is rougher than I would have liked it to be, and I quickly open up the drawers and pull out a pair of his sleep boxers and a nightshirt, rushing into the bathroom to put them on. The boxers are a bit loose, but his nightshirt is really long and goes past my knees. I step out of the bathroom and quickly cross the floor, scurrying into bed next to him. He still has his book in his hands, but he's looking at me now like he's not quite sure what to do.

"I'm sorry," I say quickly, burying my face in the blanket. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry." When I dare to peek out at him from the blankets, he's watching me curiously, but he doesn't seem mad. "I just…I appreciate how hard this is for you. Letting someone use your shower for the first time, borrow your clothes for the first time, sleep in your bed for the first time…"

"Isn't this your first time as well?" he asks, putting his book aside.

"Yes, but I-" I shrug. "I want to. I want to, you know, snuggle up to you at night. And I'm used to sharing my room and my bathroom with other people. But you, you've been alone for so long, and I don't want to ruin things between us by overstepping my boundaries. I don't want to push you. I want to take this slowly."

He closes his eyes and sighs. "You have a point. I haven't quite decided how to feel about all these adjustments. It's new to be sure, but not altogether…unpleasant."

"Will you let me know?" I ask. "Like, will you tell me? Like, oh this is a bit much for me? Or, that's my favorite shirt, please don't wear that? Or, you're talking too much or hanging around me too much and I need my space?"

"That's only fair if I extend you the same courtesy," he says. "But I shall do my best."

"I won't take it personally," I assure him. "Really. I want to make this work, but we need to be honest and open with one another."

"Agreed," he says, turning off the light with a wave of his hand. "But we have had an emotional day. We should sleep now."

I nod my head and scooch closer to him. He puts his arm around me and I cuddle into his chest. I have to brush my hair aside and move around a few times, but I finally get into a comfortable position, gently placing my hand on his chest. I wait until I can feel his heartbeat, for real this time, and it instantly relaxes me.

I picture myself this morning, standing on the other side of the bed, screaming at him to try to make this work.

I picture myself falling backwards out the window, praying I would be able to teleport away in time.

I picture myself lying on the beach, screaming at the ocean, breaking down in hideous sobs.

I picture myself curling into his arms, watching the sky light up with color.

I picture myself snuggling into him now, warm and relaxed, and I realize that today might have been a trying day, but it ended like this. It didn't have to. It could have ended with me still on the beach, or back at my dorm, or worse, but it didn't. It could have ended with us ready to separate, but here we are, wrapped up in bed together, trying to make this work.

I manage to suppress a giggle for his sake, but I can't hide the stupid grin that covers my face. He's here. I'm happy. I'm going to be okay. We're going to be okay.