And just like that, they go from wading to plunging. It's been so long since he kissed anyone — the months ooze into an epoch in his mind — that, for a second, he worries that he's forgotten how it goes. But his body remembers. His lips remember the way Jesper's move against them, pouring kisses into him like honey, and they answer in kind. His hands serpentine up Jesper's back, sneaking underneath his jacket to trace the ridges of his shoulder blades.

There's a corner of his heart, of course, that wishes it were Kelson. Comfortable in his lap and kissing him without even a thread of the inhibition that always snapped taut eventually.

But when his eyes flutter open, he's glad too that it's Jesper. His friend, who has been by his side through it all, who has steadied him and harbored him. His hands spread down Jesper's sides to hold his hips.

"Yeah... I'm sure." It's not just the loneliness aching in his chest, or the liquor warming his ribs either. "I'm ready now."

To make peace with the fact that he would never see Kelson again. To take another step forward, leaving behind him the slip of time they shared and moving toward a someday where, who knows, he might find others who chip away his loneliness.