Some part of Aradia hadn't thought he'd do it at all. Her fingers flex inside of his, for that bit of contact, but she stays still otherwise, letting him close the distance, letting him touch her first. It's funny, how that all of a sudden becomes a big deal, that small shift of air and that moment before the plunge.

But the lightness in her stomach doesn't go away with a second time either. It's funny, actually, in all her worrying about the past and the future and the present and the timing of everything just right, she never considered the possibility of having someone somewhere to do something like this with. It never came up at all. And now she's leaning into him, trying to convey somehow that yes it's ok, it's really ok, she's not going to pull away.