“I hope you had a good time,” Aiden said as they stepped through the front door of the apartment at half past eleven. 

“I did,” Ashe assured him, smiling warmly.

After their meal, he had called a rideshare and they’d gone to see a movie together, putting the capstone on a cliched date formula… but Ashe had loved it. Being treated like the girl she was had really reinforced that this was the right choice for her. This is who she is, now.

“Wonder if Cay’s back yet…” he mused, glancing at her closed bedroom door.

“If she is, I’m going to owe her an explanation for yoinking some of her clothes… and about the date,” she grinned. 

“Yeah. Maybe in the morning though. She’s probably sleeping. We should probably do the same if you wanna get back to work at the Underground tomorrow.”

“Good call…” She glanced back at the hall closet. “But… maybe I should just crash on the couch? Sleeping in the closet might be a bit cramped now that I’m not made of fluff,” she laughed.

“Hey, now what kind of gentleman would I be if I let my girlfriend sleep in the closet? You can use my bed.”

Her cheeks immediately lit with a blush. Namely because he’d called her his girlfriend, but secondly because of the implication of sharing his bed.

He laughed, “Don’t get any ideas. I’m gonna ride the couch. You can take the bed to yourself.”

She frowned a bit, actually feeling… disappointed? “Oh, yeah… okay. Of course.”

“Unless… you wanted to share?” Aiden asked, tilting his head slightly.

Her smile returned and she nodded. “Yeah! Oh- uh, not that we have to do anything, uh, I mean, just… it’d be nice to just… you know… share the bed?” Her face was deep scarlet as she rambled.

“You’re way too cute and pure. Yeah, we can share, cutie.” He winked and led her to the bedroom, motioning at the en suite bathroom. “You can go first if you wanna get cleaned up before bed. I’ll lend you one of my t-shirts to use as a night shirt.”

She nodded slightly. “Thanks, Aiden… yeah, I’d like that.” 

“Sure,” he rummaged through a drawer and tossed her an oversized C.P.U. t-shirt, which looked like it would nearly serve as a dress for her. 

Ashe slipped into the bathroom to grab a quick shower and clean up before bed. It was only as she was standing there in nothing but a t-shirt and panties in front of the mirror that she realized…

She really hoped Aiden wanted to do more than just share the bed.

That thought sent a fresh blush across her cheeks, and she squirmed a bit as she thought about what he might do with those hands. She caught herself pressing her thighs together and had to quickly shake herself from the fantasy before she needed another shower - a colder one.

“I-I’m done,” she announced as she stepped out of the bathroom. “I uh, need to get a toothbrush from my stuff, but I can just brush my teeth in the kitchen sink or something while you shower.” 

“Sure, no problem,” Aiden agreed, heading in to get his own shower.

Ashe stepped over to the door to Cailyn’s room to get her bag - they hadn’t transferred it to the hall closet owing to needing the space for her to actually sleep in as a Knot. 

‘Please don’t wake up and be angry that I woke you up, Cay!’ she pleaded, gently opening the door.

Her eyes adjusted to the dark of the room, and she looked to see if Cailyn was soundly asleep in her bed.

She wasn’t.

She let out a sigh of mixed relief and worry that her friend wasn’t back yet.

‘Maybe she’s hanging out at a friend’s place tonight… or found some guy to take her home,’ she thought, crossing the room to fetch her duffel of personal items from beside Cailyn’s bed.

‘Weird,’ she thought as she hefted it up, ‘Feels lighter than I remember… I would have thought it would feel heavier since I lost some muscle in my arms…’

She unzipped the bag, and gasped. At a glance, all her gear she’d used for deliveries seemed to be missing. She’d left it right on top of the clothes piled into the bag. 

‘Maybe the bag just shifted and everything got jumbled,’ she thought, starting to pull items out of the bag. She set aside clothes and then her personal toiletries she’d packed. 

‘What the hell?’ she stared into the now empty duffel. Her delivery gear was just… missing.

 

“Everything OK, Ashe?” Aiden asked as he stepped out of his room, wearing only some basketball shorts to sleep in.

She momentarily forgot the situation and barely heard his question as she took in his damn fine physique.

“Hey, eyes up here,” he chuckled teasingly. 

She snapped herself out of it. “S-Sorry! Uh… no, actually. Did one of you guys take my stuff from the Underground out of my bag?”

“What do you mean?” Aiden asked.

“All my specialized gear for making my deliveries for the Underground is missing. It’s just my old clothes, shoes, and toiletries.” She motioned at the bag’s contents, now transferred to the kitchen table with the empty bag.

“Huh… I guess Cay might have taken them back to the shop or something? Nate never mentioned wanting them back to me, though,” Aiden offered.

“Yeah, I uh… I guess I’ll just have to ask Nate tomorrow when we see him.”

“Sounds like a plan. I’m guessing Cay wasn’t in her room, then?”

“Nope,” Ashe shook her head.

“Figured, since you asked if either of us had taken it instead of just me. She must be out with some friends or something. She’s so flakey lately. I’m gonna give her a swift kick in the ass for ignoring texts.” He grumbled, rubbing the back of his head. “Anyway… you uh, ready for bed?” he asked, motioning at the clock now showing that it was nearly midnight.

“Yeah,” she agreed, “just gotta brush my teeth real quick.” She grabbed the toiletries and headed back to the bathroom.

She found Aiden waiting in bed when she returned, rolled over on his side facing away from her. She carefully slid into bed beside him, trying not to disturb him in case he’d already fallen asleep.

Her heartbeat picked up as she realized that for the first time she was sharing a bed with a man as a woman. Even if nothing sexual was happening, it was still something of a thrill.

She turned over on her side with her back to Aiden, hoping she’d be able to get her mind off of him and get to sleep.

Instead, she felt the shifting of the mattress, and then Aiden’s arm came to rest across her side, his chest against her back.

‘Oh holy shit, we’re cuddling right now, and I’m totally the little spoon!’ she thought, her heart accelerating to a point where she thought he might feel her pulse hammering through her veins. 

Aiden said nothing further, didn’t press her for anything more… but she found that she wanted him to. Her body was revved up and willing, and her mind was finding no reasons to object. She rolled back over, face to face with him.

“Aiden?” she softly whispered.

“Yeah?” he replied, opening his eyes to meet hers in the dark.

“I know you said nothing had to happen but… what if I want it to? Do you want it to?”

Aiden smiled slightly. “Definitely.”

That was all she needed to hear. She leaned closer, pressing her lips to his, pulling their bodies closer together.

 

Morning came a lot earlier than she felt it should. Though that may be in part to how late they’d been up. She coaxed her way out of Aiden’s arms, trying not to think about just what those hands had done to her last night, and climbed out of bed to take a trip to the bathroom and clean up for the day.

Aiden was already up and had stripped the bed and replaced it with fresh linens when she returned. “Good morning, beautiful,” he said with a wide smile.

She felt like he was practically glowing, and she wondered if she was as well. “Good morning… last night was… amazing,” she said, blushing.

“Agreed,” Aiden closed the distance to her, resting his hands on her hips and leaning in for another kiss.

Ashe eagerly met him for the kiss, and after a few moments had to force herself to pull back. “Down, boy… or we’re never going to make it to work in time.” She winked, leaning in and giving him another playful kiss.

He returned it, but let her escape afterwards. “Fair point… I’d better shower and get dressed.”

“Sounds good. I’ll get breakfast started and see if I can reach Cay.”

Aiden nodded and began gathering his outfit for the day. “Sounds good. See you in a few, babe.” 

‘Babe,’ her heart fluttered as she quickly stepped out into the main living area to get away from him before she did something far less chaste than a little kiss.

She gathered up the stuff to make eggs and toast. Meanwhile, she tapped out a message to Cailyn with her other hand, asking where the heck she was. Her previous messages had been marked read, but no replies had come in since yesterday morning when she sent her a meme of a puppet getting unraveled in some game or kids show.

‘Hope she’s okay,’ she thought, cracking eggs and getting started on breakfast proper.

As minutes ticked by and she worked on assembling breakfast, she heard her phone ping with a text alert, and quickly grabbed for it, hoping it was Cailyn finally replying.

The message she saw instead was far, far worse.

[Hey, little brother! Guess who’s coming out to your neck of the woods to visit? This girl! I’ll see you on Friday! Hugs!]

It was from her older sister, Kelsey.

“Oh… fuck.”