The word hovered between them without being spoken.
It arrived in fragments—half-questions, interrupted sentences, the way Juni's mouth opened and closed as if deciding whether something was worth disturbing the quiet.
They were lying side by side, facing opposite directions, the room dim and warm. Elian's hand rested loosely on Juni's hip, familiar and grounding. Juni traced absent patterns on the fabric of Elian's shirt.
"Do you ever think about… later?" Juni asked.
Elian turned his head slightly. "Sometimes."
Juni hesitated. "About what this is."
Elian understood immediately.
They didn't move closer. They didn't pull away either. The space between them held.
"I think about it," Elian said carefully. "I just don't want to decide it out of fear."
Juni nodded. "Me neither."
Silence stretched—not uncomfortable, but weighted.
"I worry that waiting might feel like avoidance," Juni admitted. "Like we're pretending not to know."
Elian shifted, turning fully toward him. "Waiting isn't pretending," he said gently. "It's choosing when to speak."
Juni searched his face. "And you're not… holding back because of everything else?"
Elian didn't answer immediately. When he did, it was honest. "I'm holding back because I don't want language to rush us into shapes we're still growing into."
Juni considered that, the tension in his shoulders easing slightly. "You really believe that."
"I do."
Juni lay back again, staring at the ceiling. "I think I mostly believe you."
Elian smiled faintly. "Mostly is okay."
They lay quietly, breathing syncing gradually. Elian brushed his thumb along Juni's side—slow, absent-minded, intimate without urgency.
Juni felt the reassurance settle—not complete, not perfect, but real enough to rest on.
Choosing not to define wasn't absence.
It was restraint.
And restraint, Juni was learning, could be a form of care.
When sleep finally claimed them, the word remained unspoken—but it no longer felt like something missing.
It felt like something waiting—patiently, deliberately, and held between them with intention.