First Real Night

"It doesn't feel like pretending anymore," Kole says."That's because it's not," Jackson replies.

-

It started with a knock.

Not on the door. But on the wall between their adjoining rooms.

Kole had been lying in bed, trying to read, failing miserably. The silence was suffocating and the sheets felt too cold. Or maybe he was just warm from inside out-from the way Jackson had been looking at him lately. From the way he hadn't touched him since chapter 20, but had made every second feel like foreplay anyway.

The knock came again.

Three slow, deliberate taps.

Kole didn't hesitate.

He opened the connecting door.

Jackson was standing there. Barefoot. Shirtless. Sweatpants hanging low on his hips, hair tousled from sleep or frustration-Kole couldn't tell which.

But his eyes...

His eyes burned.

Kole's heart stuttered. "Can't sleep?"

Jackson didn't answer.

Instead, he walked past him and into the room, his presence flooding the space like a storm front.

No script.No cameras.No press.

Just them.

Real.

Unfiltered.

And finally-undeniable.

"I can't keep doing this," Jackson said, voice low, like it was torn from somewhere deep.

Kole swallowed. "Doing what?"

"This. Us. Pretending to be nothing when every part of me wants to be-everything."

Kole stared. "Then be it."

Jackson looked up. Jaw tight. Hands shaking. "You sure?"

Kole stepped closer. "I've never been more sure of anything in my life."

And just like that-the dam broke.

Jackson's hands were on him. Mouth crashing into his like something desperate and starved. Kole gasped, but melted into it instantly, his arms winding around Jackson's neck, fingers threading into his hair.

It wasn't careful.

It wasn't slow.

It was real.

Kisses rough with months of denial. Hands greedy with the weight of every unsaid word. Jackson pushed Kole back until the backs of his knees hit the bed.

And Kole let himself fall.

Jackson followed.

Their bodies tangled in sheets and shadows and need.

Kole arched beneath him as Jackson kissed down his throat, chest heaving, skin on fire.

Jackson paused, hovering over him. Their foreheads touched.

"Tell me to stop," he whispered, voice wrecked.

Kole's hands pulled him closer. "Don't you fucking dare."

And just like that-they let go.

No roles.No "husband" and "interviewer."No K-pop idol and social media boy.

Just Jackson.

Just Kole.

Two men who had fought the tension for far too long.

Clothes came off in pieces. Moans were muffled by mouths and the rhythm of a bed that wouldn't stop creaking.

Jackson kissed Kole like he was memorizing him. Kole touched Jackson like he was afraid he'd disappear.

Everything was burning.

Everything was finally honest.

At one point, Jackson slowed down-held Kole's face in his hands and whispered, "I never wanted to need someone like this."

And Kole kissed him quiet, eyes glassy. "You're not the only one."

Later, tangled in sheets and the scent of each other, Kole lay with his head on Jackson's chest, their breaths syncing, the silence no longer empty.

"You realize nothing's going to be the same after this," Kole murmured.

Jackson's fingers brushed through his hair. "Good."

They didn't say I love you.

Not yet.

But for the first time-

They didn't have to.