Arik woke before Liam.
For several minutes, he made no attempt to move.
Morning had barely reached the bedroom, pale light filtering through the heavy curtains and laying narrow strips of silver-gold across the dark floor, while beyond the glass balcony doors Deira remained half hidden beneath low clouds and the distant hum of the first transit lines.
Liam slept with his face turned toward him.
After the previous night, the bedding had been rearranged into something neither of them could reasonably blame on sleep alone, although someone had apparently made an effort to drag the blanket back over them before exhaustion won. Liam was buried beneath it to the shoulders, brown hair scattered over the pillow and across Arik's arm, his expression softened by sleep in a way Arik rarely saw when Liam was awake enough to notice someone looking at him.
Arik watched him.
