A/N: First I would like to say thank you for all the kind reviews! Second, I want to make sure everyone knows that how I characterize the other youtubers in here in no way reflects how I actually see them. I absolutely adore Caspar, I don't ship PJ and Zoe, etc. but I'm just trying to work with what I've got so I can move the Phan plot forward. And third, I'm so sorry this chapter took so long! I've been super busy with exams and everything. I should be able to write more frequently now because everything is almost over (hopefully). Oh, and… this is the usual warning for some phan smut ;)

"So what exactly are you having a problem with?"

"Everything. But right now, vanishing spells." I had made good on my promise to myself to ask PJ to tutor me after the last Transfiguration lesson. We both had a free period that Tuesday morning so he had agreed to help me.

"What happened last time you tried the spell?" PJ asked.

"Well, I was trying to make a turtle vanish and nothing happened," I responded.

"Nothing?"

"Nope."

"Didn't even change color?"

"Nope."

"Hmm… well, have you tried it with a less complex animal? It could be that the turtle's shell was making it more difficult."

"I managed to do a snail earlier in the year. But I don't know if I could even do that anymore."

"Okay, well that's a start," said PJ. "Lets see if we can go and find a snail, shall we?" He stood up and I quickly followed suit. We walked together out of the castle onto the grounds. As it was a mid-winter morning, it was rather cold but thankfully there was not too much snow on the ground so we made it to the edge of the forest quickly. However, with the weather, I was doubtful any snails would be out and about. Fortunately, PJ was not being quite as stupid as I was and was not interested in searching for a snail, so he just said, "Accio snail!"

Two snails came zooming out of the forest and into his hand. "Lets save these for a bit," he said, placing the snails on a branch of a nearby tree and grabbing a few leaves off the branches instead. "Its generally easier to vanish inanimate objects, so lets practice with these first."

"Okay," I said. I was fairly confident I would be able to make the leaves vanish; they were much less complex than snails and its not like they could walk away from me.

"Here you go," PJ said, handing me a leaf.

I took it from him, pulled out my wand, and muttered, "Evanesco!"

The leaf vanished immediately from my hand.

Despite my previous confidence, I was still proud of myself for this accomplishment.

"Great," said PJ. "That was perfect. Now, what were you thinking about when you did that?"

"I don't know," I responded. "Just making the leaf vanish, I guess."

"Okay, try again with this one and focus on what you are actually thinking about this time," he said handing me a second leaf.

I took it and stared at it for a second before proceeding. This time, as I raised my wand, I tried to be conscious of what I was thinking about. I realized that as the same time I cast the spell, I was visualizing the entire leaf vanishing as though the outer part vanished first, then the inner veins of the leaf.

When I told this to PJ, he said, "Good. So you picture it vanishing from the outside in. Do it one more time, just to be sure."

As soon as I had vanished the third leaf, PJ snapped a twig off of the tree and handed it to me. "Now try this," he said.

I took the stick, visualized the bark disappearing, then the interior wood, and made the entire thing vanish into thin air without any difficulty.

"Perfect," said PJ, nodding in approval. "Lets try the snail now, yeah?"

He reached up and plucked one of the snails off the branch he had put them on and handed it to me. I took it slightly tentatively. Though I had been successful before with snails, I really wanted to be able to do it now that it seemed as though PJ may have unlocked the secret to my problem with the spell.

I raised my want yet again and pictured the shell disappearing along with the body and slime. "Evanesco!" I said.

The snail vanished immediately. I wanted to jump up and down at having achieved this on my first try, but not wanting to lose my cool in front of PJ, I managed to restrain myself. Instead I just smiled up at him proudly.

"Good job," he chuckled, probably able to tell that I could barely contain myself. "One more time," he said, handing me the second snail.

I took it and it had disappeared within seconds. "PJ, you're a genius!" I said.

"Well, I still haven't gotten you to do anything you couldn't do before, so lets hold off on the genius stuff for now," he said, but he was obviously flattered by the complement. That was one of the things I really liked about being friends with PJ; he really was a genius be he was so humble about it. "Maybe you should try something with a little more structure."

"A grasshopper?"

"Sure," he chuckled again at my slightly random suggestion. "Accio grasshopper!" PJ caught the grasshopper in midair as it zoomed toward him and he handed it to me.

I took the struggling creature in my hand and focused solely on making it vanish. "Evanesco!" I said for the seventh time that day.

Much to my disappointment, I was left with two legs kicking feebly in my hand.

"Almost. But were you focusing on the entire thing? Or were you just thinking about the body?"

"Oh, I guess just the body."

"Another try?" He summoned another grasshopper and handed it to me.

This time I remembered to think about the legs and antenna vanishing as well. I cast the spell again and was left with nothing in my hand.

"Great!" said PJ. "Now let's see if you can do a mouse, yeah?"

"Okay." I was now excited to try the spell on more complex things. Though I knew it was a false sense of confidence, I felt like I would be able to make anything vanish now that I knew how to think about the spell.

"Accio mouse!" said PJ. "Ah, good. I was hoping there would be one nearby," he said as a mouse came zooming into his outstretched hand.

"It's so cute!" I said, as I took it from him. Suddenly, I did not want to make the poor creature vanish.

"Phil…"

"What?"

"You have to practice somehow," said PJ, having realized that I was reluctant to harm such an adorable little creature. "And its not like it actually hurts it. It just makes it vanish."

"Alright. Fine," I said, trying to ignore the desperate squeaks of the mouse that was trying to escape my grasp. I shook my head to clear it and tried to picture the mouse disappearing from the outside in. First its feet, then its fur, then its skin, then the muscle, and then the organs. I raised my wand and said, "Evanesco!"

I squealed in delight as the mouse vanished into thin air. "PJ you did it! Can I call you a genius now?"

"No, you did it and I guess you could call me a genius," he said in with mock superciliousness. "Care to try again?"

"Yes please!"

He summoned another mouse and gave it to me. I quickly made it vanish and he replaced it with a third.

We continued in this manner until the end of our free period, gradually working through more and more complex animals. I managed to make a rather large bird vanish and even conquered a few turtles. By the time we went back to the castle I was confident in my ability to use the vanishing spell and could not wait to get to transfiguration to show McGonagall that I was actually competent.

When we returned to the castle we were immediately enveloped in welcome warmth of the Entrance Hall and a high pitched giggling met our ears. We both turned to see Zoe and her friends gathered around the bottom of the staircase and shooting glances in our direction.

"Go!" I said.

"What?"

"Go talk to her!" I insisted.

"What? But… fine," he relented. "You're coming with me though."

"Fine. Lets go," I said, nudging him discretely.

We walked over to the group of girls and I noticed that PJ's whole demeanor had changed. He was standing slightly taller and giving off an air of confidence that he did not usually exhibit. As he ran his hand through his hair, I realized that although he was humble, he really knew how to work it when he wanted to.

"Hey girls," he said when we reached them.

"Hi PJ," Zoe piped up immediately, the other girls letting out a chorus of giggles behind her. She shot them a reprimanding look but they did not seem to care.

"How are you?" PJ asked politely, always a gentleman.

"Fantastic," Zoe responded enthusiastically. "We were actually just talking about going to the Ravenclaw Quidditch practice later today. You guys are practicing, right?"

"Yeah, we've got to get ready for the match against Hufflepuff on Friday."

"You guys know there's no point in practicing, right? We're gonna beat you anyway," I said.

"Oh, shut up Phil," he said, punching me teasingly in the arm.

"I thought you guys were down a beater," Zoe said to me.

"We found a decent replacement," I responded. "Even without our normal team, Ravenclaw is going to need all the practice they can get."

"Well we are going to do the best we can today," said PJ, "assuming the filthy Slytherins don't try to steal the pitch again."

"Oh no! Did they do that before," Zoe frowned.

"Yeah, Jack and Finn can weasel their way into anything. They're so 'charming'," he said, making air quotes, clearly frustrated by the twins' uncanny ability to convince teachers to give them whatever they wanted.

"Those little brats are so annoying," Zoe complained, sympathetically.

"Not gonna lie, most of the time I just want to curse them into oblivion."

"But I'm sure if they steal your practice again, you could charm your way into getting it back," she said, twirling a piece of her hair around in her fingers, "with those big green eyes of yours."

"Yeah Peej," I said, "You've got girls all over you. Getting a teacher to agree with you should be easy."

Zoe and her friends blushed but otherwise seemed unfazed.

"We'll see if it comes to that," said PJ. "Anyway, I've got to run. My next class is in the north tower and I don't particularly fancy being late. But I'll see you later?" he asked, looking a Zoe.

"Most definitely," she smiled back at him.

I nodded to the girls as we walked away up the stairs.

"I should listen to you more often," PJ said once we made it out of earshot.

"You gonna ask her out?"

"Pushy, pushy," PJ teased. "I'll ask her out when I want to ask her out, don't you worry about it."

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My transfiguration lesson later the next day was nothing less than fun. The look on McGonagall's face when I made a rabbit disappear on the first try was priceless. Her reprimanding look from last lesson had turned into one of awe. Alex and Carrie were speechless but when McGonagall was out of earshot I, not wanting to take credit for my sudden mastery of the spell, told them how PJ had helped me.

The next day at lunch I found PJ and thanked him for his help and told him about McGonagall's reaction. He was flattered by my profuse thanks and congratulated me on my success. When I asked him about Zoe, he said that they had hung out after practice and talked for a while.

"And no, I didn't ask her out yet," PJ said before I could ask.

"Why not?"

"Because I got scared."

"Well, we are going to find a way for you to do it, okay? Maybe you and Chris can tag team it."

PJ agreed to talk to Chris about it before heading off to class.

Talking to PJ about his practice made me remember that the Slytherins were supposed to be practicing that day and I was struck by a sudden idea—that it would be fun to go watch Dan practice. I loved watching him play in actual matches but it would be different at practice without the entire school there watching and shouting and judging me for rooting for Slytherin. I would still have to make sure no one saw me; as a member of another Quidditch team, I could be accused of spying. But mostly I wanted to make sure no one found out I was there to watch Dan because that would hurt both of our reputations. Even so, I was desperate for classes to end for the day so I could go down to the pitch to watch.

When I was finally dismissed from Charms, I walked as fast as I could without drawing attention to myself down to the pitch and hid myself in the stands. No one would have been able to see me unless they walked right up to me, but I still had a pretty good view of the pitch.

As I waited for the team to take to the air, I pulled out my wand and made little objects around me vanish to practice the spell. There was a lot of trash in the stands and I felt like I was being a good person as I made it all slowly disappear.

Suddenly seven green and silver blurs zoomed into the air and began to circle the pitch, making a few warm-up laps. They zoomed by me so fast I could not tell one player from the other. They really were excellent flyers; they maintained strict formation and kept a consistent speed. When they eventually slowed down, I spotted Dan who was taller than the rest and fairly easy to make out. I also saw Jack and Finn and thought I recognized one of the beaters as a boy named Regulus who I thought was a sixth year, but I was not sure.

The captain whose name I did not know blew a whistle and shouted some orders. The keeper immediately took his position while Jack, Finn, and the captain who was the third chaser took turns taking shots. The beaters began to hit in inanimate bludger back and forth between themselves, a drill which our beaters often did at practice as well.

But all I could watch was Dan who had released the snitch and was circling his team while he waited for it to fly away. The way he flew was so elegant and graceful. He had complete control over every little adjustment. It was obvious he was a natural and he felt entirely comfortable on a broomstick. His total mastery of the sport was nothing less than incredibly sexy.

Suddenly, Dan shot up into the air, presumably to look for the snitch. Coming to a standstill high above his team, he looked down at the pitch and slowly began to circle again, resembling a hawk hunting his prey. A few moments later he launched himself into a dive, transforming into a green and silver blur as he sped across the pitch. By the time I was able to locate the snitch myself, his arm was already stretched out, mere feet from the fluttering golden ball.

"Nice one, Dan!" the captain called from across the pitch as Dan did a little loop-de-loop in the air in excitement at having caught the snitch so quickly.

Dan released the snitch again and shot back over to his team to watch them for a bit while the snitch disappeared. As he watched the chasers take turns shooting, I could not help but watch them also. I felt guilty about watching them so closely, as I was the keeper of an opposing team, but nonetheless I took note of how each of them played. The twins had a specific way they tried to fake out the keeper before they took a shot. They were both very skilled at shooting at the opposite hoop that their body position made it look like they intended to shoot at. Though they were good at it, now that I knew this trick, I knew that I would have no trouble blocking most of their shots.

As Dan soared back up into the air to look for the snitch, my eyes followed him and tracked his path through the air as he began to circle once more. It took him a bit longer this time, but eventually he dove, streaking right through the rest of his team and making a particularly spectacular grab at the snitch just a few feet off the ground.

As I sat through their practice, I watched Dan whenever he was hunting the snitch. But whenever he was watching his team, I did that as well. My competitiveness and hatred of the Slytherins overpowered my guilt at discovering their secrets in this way. Whenever I felt the need to look away because I had discovered something new about their strategies, Caspar's face swam into the back of my mind and made me want to keep watching so that even if I could not crush him, I could crush his House's chance of winning the Quidditch Cup.

With Caspar and my injured hand in mind, I studied everything I could about their strategies and how each of them played the game individually. I noted how the third chaser would often come in lower before shooting at the higher goalpost, how the beaters were especially good at aiming but did not have a huge amount of power behind their swings, how Jack and Finn often worked on opposite sides of the field, leaving the third chaser in the middle.

As I watched the beaters, the one who was not Regulus dropped the bludger and plunged down to retrieve it. Regulus waited there in the air and his attention turned to Dan when he spotted him hurdling towards him and the snitch. I watched as Regulus suddenly darted up and snatched the snitch just as Dan was about to make a grab for it. Dan was forced to do a quick roll to avoid skewering the beater but recovered quickly and with a smile on his face.

"Good one, Reg," he laughed.

The captain was not as amused however and began to blow her whistle loudly and started shouting at Regulus. Her first few words were incomprehensible because her anger had made her voice shoot up a few octaves, but gradually I began to be able to distinguish what she was saying.

"That only interferes with practice! You had your chance last year and you blew it!"

"It was only a joke," Regulus said, handing the snitch that he had grabbed from right in front of Dan back to him.

"Calm down, Lucinda," Dan said to the captain. "Its not like I got hurt. And its good practice to keep me on my toes."

"Back off, Dan. He needs to learn his place," she reprimanded him.

Dan, clearly not wanting to pick a fight with his captain, flew over to Jack and Finn who were watching the scene unfold from a safer distance.

"You were seeker before and now you aren't, Black. Dan beat you out of it fair and square and if you can't deal with that, then maybe you shouldn't be on the team at all."

"No, sorry. Come on, Lucidia. Don't do this."

"Just get back to practice and stop acting like you are trying to prove something."

Regulus rolled his eyes but did as he was told, signaling for the other beater to hit the bludger to him. Dan quickly released the snitch and went back to practicing. Jack and Finn exchanged glances but otherwise remained silent on the issue. It was rather astonishing to see how much the rest of the team respected—or feared—their captain. But as it was the Slytherins, I was not altogether surprised that the team worked like that. Lucidia was probably pureblood too.

A few more spectacular catches from Dan, a couple more goals from Jack and Finn, and a few more brilliant saves by the keeper later, I could tell practice was drawing to a close. I discretely slipped out of my hiding spot and made my way back to the castle and waited in the corridor adjacent to the one that I knew the team would enter the castle through. After watching Dan practice for a few solid hours I could not wait to get my hands on him.

Lucidia came in first with the keeper, and then Dan entered with Jack and Finn.

"Hey, Dan!" I called.

Dan spun around, looking startled to see me but a slight smile crept onto his face.

"Slughorn wanted to see us in his office," I told him loud enough for his team to hear.

"I'll catch up with you guys later," he said to the twins who were looking at me with identical expressions of disgust. "Hey," he said to me. "Do we have another potions session?" He asked as he approached me.

"No, I just wanted to talk to you," I said when I was sure his team was out of earshot. He smiled at me and I said, "You know, you're really sexy when you fly."

"You were watching our practice?" he said as his smile widened.

"Maybe," I admitted. "Just don't tell anyone. I don't want people to think I was spying 'cause I'm on the other team and all."

"But you were spying," he teased, lowering his voice as a student walked by so they would not hear our conversation.

"Yeah, spying on you and your sexy face," I winked at him. Glancing around, I saw that the corridor was once again deserted. I took advantage of the brief solitude to slide my hands around his neck and give him a brief kiss. I wanted to kiss him longer, to let my mouth move against his more deeply, to allow my tongue to explore his mouth, but being in a public space, I did not want to risk being seen.

He exhaled as we separated and I felt his sweet breath wash over my face.

"Do you want to maybe hang out later?" he asked in a low voice.

Looking up into his eyes, I saw a glint of mischievousness.

"Of course I do," I responded, unable to think of a better answer while staring into those hypnotic eyes of his.

"Good," he smiled. "I need a bath because I smell like Quidditch but I'll meet you in the room later, yeah?"

"Sounds good to me."

As he gave me a swift kiss, I could not help but think of what I would give to follow him into the bath. But I would have to save that for later.

For now, I watched Dan round the corner and disappear out of sight then made my way back to my dormitory to change into clothes that were slightly more flattering on me. Though if everything went the way I was hoping it would, I would not need those clothes for very long.

"Where have you been?" Alex asked when I entered the Hufflepuff common room.

"Trying to psych out the Slytherins," I said, sitting down next to him on the floor where he was playing a game of Exploding Snap with Tom who was a fourth year and the seeker on our team. Tom's hair was its customary blue and he was as full of energy as ever.

"You guys don't have any homework to do, do you?" I asked as I watched them carry out one of the most competitive games of Exploding Snap I had ever seen.

"Nope!" Tom said as he exploded a pair of cards with his wand.

"Fuck!" cursed Alex as the point for the set went to Tom. "No we don't. Want to play the next round?" he offered after he calmed down.

"No thanks," I replied. "I think I'm going to head down to the library actually. Slughorn wanted me to do some research before my next potions session."

"Aww, come on Phil," whined Tom. "You work hard enough as it is."

"Nah, I really need to do this, sorry. I don't know when our next lesson will be and I want to be prepared."

"Always the goody-two-shoes," said Alex, cautiously flipping over a card.

I hit the back of his head but laughed to myself. If only he knew what I was going to do instead of study in the library….

"I'll see you guys later," I said, heading up to the dormitory to change clothes before I made my way up to the seventh floor. Glancing at my watch, I saw that Dan probably would not be there for a while, but there was no harm in getting there before him.

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When I got to the room, I threw my cloak on the back of one of the large couches and loosened by tie a little. As I had suspected, Dan was not there yet, so I decided to look around a bit more.

The fire was lit again. I walked past the shelves and ran my hands along the books there. It looked like they were mostly academic books. There was an entire section dedicated to just transfiguration. I made a mental note to come back here to look at the books if I had more trouble with the subject. The cabinets were filled with random baubles and bits—mostly little magical trinkets.

I went through, pulling books off of shelves and opening cabinets. I had made it nearly all the way around the room when suddenly I opened a cabinet that was nearly empty. I stared at the singular object that was placed at eye level and almost laughed; whether from shock or irony I was not sure. I picked it up to be sure and my suspicions were confirmed. It was a bottle of lube. It was like this room knew.

As I put it back and closed the cabinet door, I heard the other door open behind me and turned around to see Dan entering the room.

"What?" he said, looking at me.

"What, what?" I asked.

"You look like you were laughing at something."

"Nope," I lied, realizing that I must have still had an amused expression on my face from what I had found in the cabinet. "Come here," I said, letting the desire that had been building in me all day seep into my voice.

He immediately strode over to me. As he got closer I took two steps toward him, wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him the way I had wanted to earlier in the corridor.

"What, you aren't even going to ask me how my day was first?" Dan asked in a joking tone when we broke apart minutes later.

"Right, sorry." I untangled myself from him, took a step backwards, and clasped my hands behind my back. "How was your day, Dan?"

I looked up at him innocently, seeing in his socked expression that he had not meant for me to break contact. His expression softened when he caught a glint of mischievousness in my eyes. "Never mind," he said, closing the gap I had made between us and wrapping his arms around my waist.

"That's what I thought," I said, running my hands through his hair and pulling his face back down to mine. When we broke apart for air, I kissed my way up his neck and nibbled his earlobe. He let out a moan that told me he was as turned on as I was.

Suddenly, Dan took three steps forward, effectively making me fall onto the couch. He stood above me and swiftly took off his shirt and dropped it to the floor. I was again stunned at his perfect, tan body as he straddled my lap and pulled my face up to his. As he began to undo the buttons on my shirt, I let my hands freely explore his smooth skin and solid muscles.

"Why on earth did we wait so long to see each other again?" he asked in between kisses.

"That's a good question," I said, slightly out of breath. "But it has only been three days."

"Seems like three months."
"Agreed."

Having undone the last button on my shirt, his fingers moved down to the clasp then the zipper on my pants. He tugged at the edge of my pants and I raised my hips so he could slide them off of me. Discarding these on the floor as well, he pushed me sideways so I was lying down on the couch and he was on top of me. As he kissed me, he slid his hand down my chest to my groin and began to palm me, making the tension that had been there since watching him fly begin to intensify. I could not help but let a small groan escape my lips as sensations of pleasure began to run through my body all the way to the tips of my fingers and toes.

"Okay, I know I was majorly turned on since I was watching you fly, but what did I do to make you so eager?" I asked.

"Well, for one thing," he said as he continued to rub his hand along my length, making me squirm underneath him, "you are you. And second, I kind of have a thing for voyeurism."

"But I was watching you, not the other way around."

"Reverse-voyeurism then. I like to be the voyeuree," he laughed.

"So it turned you on that I was watching you?"

"Yeah," he admitted.

"Then I guess I'm going to have to do that more often if this is what I get afterwards."

He just winked at me and planted a few deep kisses on my neck.

I was growing hard from his teasing and he mercifully pulled off my boxers. I watched as he trailed kisses all the way down my chest and up my length. The way he was acting, it was difficult to believe that just a week ago, Dan had been extremely uncomfortable with the idea of being with or even liking another guy. He placed one more kiss on my tip then took me in his mouth. He alternated between combinations of swirling his tongue around me, sucking hard, and pumping his hand up and down. Every touch sent a new wave of pleasure through me and made me all the more eager to do the same to him.

"Hey Dan," I said, hit by a sudden idea that, if possible, turned me on even more.

"Mhmm?" he responded without removing his mouth from my length. The vibrations from this sound sent an intense wave of pleasure through me, causing me to arch my back.

"Turn around," I said when I had regained the ability to speak.

He looked up at me with a quizzical expression on his face.

"I want to have some fun too," I said, motioning for him to do a 180 and looking at him pointedly.

A look of comprehension then a smile and he got off of me and quickly stripped his pants off of himself. He carefully got back on top of me but this time facing the opposite direction so the he was straddling my head. As he wrapped his large hand around me, I tugged at the fabric of his boxers and pulled them off with a little help from him. I smiled, seeing that he was already hard with excitement and arousal.

Grabbing his thighs, I pulled him closer and took him in my mouth. I licked and sucked, matching his rhythm. I felt his thigh muscles tighten under my hands as his pleasure grew more intense. Inspired by the sensation he created earlier, I pulled back until my lips were around his head and I began to hum.

"Shit, Phil!" Dan said and I felt his thighs tighten again.

"Does that feel good?" I asked, plunging my mouth around his entire length then pulling back to the same position.

"Fuck," he said as I started humming again. "Yeah, it does," he moaned.

I continued to do this and I felt him grow closer and closer. He began to take me deeper and deeper into his mouth so my head was hitting the back of his throat. I was consumed by the feeling of being inside of him and having him inside of me. I lost track of where he ended and where I began. Feeling pressure build up inside me, I knew I was close too.

"Phil, I'm close," Dan said as he pumped his hand up and down hard before taking me in his mouth once again.

The sensations of pleasure shooting like electricity through my body prevented me from answering immediately. As I took him deep in my mouth again so his head was touching the back of my throat, the best I could do to acknowledge him was moan.

This sent him over the edge and caused him to groan as he came in my mouth. The vibrations from his mouth caused me to immediately explode inside him.

He collapsed on top of me and slowly and carefully turned himself around so we were facing the same way again.

"You. Are. Amazing. Phil." Dan said, giving me a soft kiss between each word.

"No, you are," I said, capturing his mouth and making the kiss last longer. As it deepened, I could taste myself in his mouth, which was strange, though not altogether unpleasant.

When we broke apart, Dan curled up next to me, placing one of his legs between mine and draping an arm across my chest. I felt him run his hands through my hair gently as I began to run my hand along the skin of his lower back. We lay there for I do not know how long, not speaking but just being together. The comfortable silence somehow almost felt more intimate than the act we had just performed.

Eventually, I decided that if I did not return to the dormitory, Alex would be asking questions so we departed the room, promising to make time for each other in the near future.