Page 106 of Take You Home

Yes,Chester pushes into their link, and meaningfully, he rocks his hips upward.And I’llalsotell you when I want you to start, which is right now. Chop-chop, Nostringvadha.

“Wow,” Obie says out loud. “You’re bossy when you’re tied up, aren’t you?”

“Obie!”

And Obie laughs as he leans down to kiss Chester again.

35

Obie wakes up.

That, in and of itself, is fairly unusual. Demons don’t need to sleep like humans do, and Obie in particular is paranoid enough that he usually doesn’t even let himself drift into the profound state of relaxation that some demons enjoy.

He doesn’t like to be vulnerable, and sleep is the epitome of vulnerability.

And it’s especially unusual for Obie to feel safe enough to sleep within the walls of the Sanctum itself. It’s especially unusual for him to feel safe enough to sleep with a Sanctuminterrogatorcurled up in his arms, but‍?—

But Chester Locke has been upending Obie’s sense of normalcy from the start. He lets out a quiet hum of contentment, snuggling closer to his hunter and burying his face in Chester’s hair. Chester shifts the slightest bit in his sleep, unconsciously pressing against Obie, before relaxing again.

At least they’re back in Chester’s bedroom‍—and in an actual bed.Obie was altogether thrilled with Chester’s location choice for their first time, but he’s hoping that subsequent episodes will feature more mattresses and less cold metal.

Specifically, he’s planning to get Chester onObie’smattress next time. Obie smiles to himself at the thought, mentally rewriting their post-defection plans. Obviously, he’s been daydreaming about bringing Chester back to his house, been daydreaming about giving him the tour and introducing him to the‍—one more time, for the record‍—non-communalshower and the king-size bed, but he never thought it would actually happen.

He always thought Chester would prefer to be on his own, to have that respectable distance, to live in a cozy apartment where they could politely ignore each other.

Apparently, though, the idea of separating was killing Chester just as much as it was killing Obie. Now that they both know where they stand, they can plan accordingly.

Plan to stay closer than ever.

And that’s not even factoring in all the other perks of Chester blurting out his feelings over that interrogation table. Honestly, the entire night felt like a dream come true: finally being able to tell Chester everything he’s wanted to say for weeks, finally getting to coax Chester into turning off his brain and relaxing under Obie’s hands‍?—

Finally getting to feel the warmth of Chester’s fingers on Obie’s bare skin.

The only difficult part of last night was the aftermath, when Obie had to hastily wipe down the interrogation table to erase all evidence of their tryst and then invisibly steer a stumbling, blissed-out, and endearingly useless Chester up three flights of stairs to his bedroom. Chester originally mumbled something about a round two shortly after Obie locked the door behind them, but he promptly proceededto fall asleep the moment he collapsed onto his mattress, boneless and satiated and content.

Maybe they can have their round two this morning. Potentially as soon as a few minutes from now, since Chester is finally starting to stir in Obie’s arms. He pulls back just enough to watch Chester’s face scrunch up as he slowly drifts into consciousness, his eyes eventually cracking open to squint sleepily at Obie.

“Oh, that bedhead isadorable,”Obie says. “I’m tempted to take photos for blackmail purposes.”

Chester’s eyes brighten a little. “Hi,” he mumbles drowsily, reaching out to brush his fingers against Obie’s cheek. With a start, Obie realizes that Chester is specifically tracing a spot where Obie’s light brown skin shifts into black snake scales. “You’re still here.”

Obie’s throat tightens. “Of course I’m still here. Did you think I wouldn’t be?”

“No, I mean…” Chester yawns, his fingers gliding up to trail over Obie’s horns.“You’restill here. Your true form. Your‍—‍” He yawns again, more explosively this time. “Sorry. It’s early. I’m not making any sense.”

I’ve been trying to find an excuse to ask you to show it to me again for weeks. I loved it.

Obie’s heart shivers. Chester’s overwhelmingacceptanceof Obie’s true form, that honest interest and curiosity and captivation, makes something feel like it’s slotting into place deep inside Obie’s chest.

Like Chester wants to know every part of Obie, not just the safe ones. “You’re making perfect sense,” he whispers, guiding Chester’s fingers to wrap tighter around his horn. “And you can touch it like this. It doesn’t hurt.”

“Hm…” Chester slides his hand from the pointed tip all the way down to the thick base, pressing his fingertips into Obie’s scalp. “You said you mimicked features from all the animals near you, right? So these are from… a ram?”

Obie’s lips twitch. “Yes.”

Chester’s fingers skim down to the patch of black scales on Obie’s left cheek. “Snake?”

“Mexican black kingsnake.”