Aaren squeezes him gently with one arm, keeps the other arm free-

And is rewarded by Nova stepping close enough to be hugged, although he's pressed closer to Zev than Aaren.

Zev’s laugh is muffled by Aaren’s shoulder, and he pulls Nova closer to cling to him too.

After a little while, Aaren squeezes them both gently again. "As lovely as this is, you should both get some sleep."

“A sound plan.”

Zev pulls away, smiling. He gathers Nova in his arms to lead him upstairs. 

"Sleep well," Aaren says with an encouraging smile.

Nova leans a little heavier against Zev and lets himself be lead, murmuring a good night to Aaren.

Zev takes Nova up into their room, shutting the door, but not locking it. 

“I’ll just shower quickly. Be right back.” He kisses Nova’s temple and heads into the bathroom. 

Nova nods, and curls up on the bed.

Zev showers quickly, but also enjoying the warmth. He towels off and changes, making sure he’s fully covered before he emerges from the bathroom. 

Nova's cross-legged on the bed now, flames playing between his hands. He looks up at Zev, half starts to apologise-

Zev is shocked, just for a moment. Nova usually only made himself warmer, never produced actual flame, but this-

Zev grins. He kneels by the bed, staring in wonder. “Beautiful,” He says on a breath. 

Nova smiles shyly. "Mhmm," he agrees, content. Then slowly persuades the flames to quiet and die. (They did need to sleep.)

“Will you do that again?”

He ducks his head shyly. "I- if you- want?"

“I think it’s beautiful.”

Nova's skin flushes, and he shrugs one shoulder. "Should sleep."

"Should, that's not wrong." Zev doesn't want to stop the fireshow, but he's gotten better at telling himself and Nova to sleep.

He gets into bed, under the covers, holding out his hand.

Nova's a little less hesitant here, with the encouragement, and the words they've shared, to cuddle up against Zev.

Zev pulls him as close as physics will allow. He buries his nose in Nova's hair and pulls fhe covers over them both.

Nova cuddles close, resting his head in Zev's shoulder.

Zev finds it easy to get to sleep after that.

And then he wakes, a few hours later, and yanks himself away from Nova. 

He's horrified, disgust and hatred boiling through his blood like poison, and as he looks at Nova it intensifies so that he feels sick- 
He's going to be sick. 

He gets off the bed as quickly and quietly as possible, stomach already trying to make him retch, and he stumbles across the bedroom to the bathroom, wrenching the door open, slamming the light on and shutting the door behind him. He collapses in front of the toilet, ripping the lid up and then-

It's mostly bile. It burns and hurts, but it's a fitting punishment. He tries to be quiet, but the coughing is hard to mask. 

It feels like hours have passed once he stops, and he just breaths through it, waiting to see if it was over. He wipes tears from his eyes. They don't seem to stop coming. He moves to sit in the corner of the bathroom, trying to stop sobbing, trying to calm his breathing. And then, unbidden and unwelcome, images start burning in his brain of bare skin, heads titled back, someone's breath caught on a sigh-

"Fuck," Zev says, his voice breaking, as he punches the bathroom wall. Hard. It's a fitting act so he does it again. And again. And then he just doesn't stop until the tile beneath his fist breaks, and he notices the streaks of blood around it. He's probably broken a few knuckles. It doesn't matter. 

He deserves it.

-But then Nova's behind him, and touching him without any hesitation, trying to stop him hitting the wall. "Please, stop. Please. You're hurting yourself. Please. Stop."

Zev flinches away from Nova, curling in on himself. And isn't that ironic?

"You shouldn't come near me." His voice is shaking.