In the movies and the fairy tales, the story ended when the Prince kissed the girl.

It felt exactly like that; with light spilling into the room from the early morning sun and Xavier’s lips pressed gently into mine, the scene was every bit the culmination of a fairy tale. Then he smiled at me, cheeks every so faintly tinted with red, and kissed me again. And if it were a fairy tale, the scene would end and that would be it.

For the first while, that was what it felt like. I went through the rest of the day in a daze, giddy with happiness. Xavier had kissed me! All those times I had wondered what was building between us, pined after him like a lovesick little girl, and now there I was. Officially kissed and everything. It was like a dream, and I didn’t want to wake up for anything.

And it was enough. At first.

I ran into him the next day on a snack run, which I may or may not have strategically planned around when he usually got his own snacks. “Hi Xavier.”

He turned to face me. “Hello Allie.” He spoke the familiar nickname with ease, his expression as serious and guileless as ever. “What kind of snacks are you here for?”

“I’m… not sure yet.” Somehow, I had expected something more – a blush maybe, or at least a hint in his gaze or his face that he felt anything like the butterflies that were wrecking havoc inside my stomach. “Maybe some chips?”

Xavier nodded, the faint edge of a smile lifting his lips. The lips that had kissed me. A little rush of heat crept up my neck as the memory resurfaced. “I recommend the generic brand,” he said, as if my heart weren’t going into overdrive right in front of him. “They seem to have more flavor.”

“Right.” I nodded, feeling desperately awkward all of a sudden. How was he so composed? “Uh… I’ll go get them.”

“I hope you like them.” He nodded again, as if that wrapped everything up, and turned to head over to the cash register.

I stared after him for a moment, before giving my head a little shake. That’s it?

It felt like there should’ve been more. A meaningful gaze shared between us, maybe? I didn’t exactly expect him to kiss me again in public and everything, but he could’ve treated me like… oh, I don’t know…

His girlfriend?

Something clenched in my stomach then. Xavier had kissed me, sure, but he hadn’t exactly asked me out. He hadn’t said he was my boyfriend or anything. And as I stared at his lean back while he made his purchase, I remembered what Tara often complained about with men in general.

“Sure, they’re quick to make out with you, but actually committing? Psh, whatever!”

Xavier wasn’t like that, though – was he? Would my serious, socially challenged partner really kiss me if it meant nothing at all to him? It hadn’t felt like nothing when he’d gazed at me between kisses; when his lips had been on mine with what felt like a quiet, gentle fervor. And he’d even said those things afterward, like about how he wanted me to be his ‘everything’. But how much did I really know about his habits? He was always so mysterious…

Had I really known him long enough to be sure?

In front of me, Xavier wrapped up his transaction and turned, favoring me with another small smile, quickly followed by a puzzled look. “Aren’t you getting chips?”

Right… the chips… “Uh, yeah!” I spun, hoping he didn’t catch the flush searing my cheeks. If he was going to play it casual, well.. fine! Then so was I. “I just spaced out for a sec, that’s all!”

That’s all…

As I quickly gathered the snacks I wanted and headed up to the register, I started to wonder if I should bring it up. Maybe he was just… following my lead? Waiting for me to say something? But even thinking about saying it made me squirm with embarrassment. “Hey, remember that kiss?”

No. No way. I’d die first.

Xavier was waiting when I finished paying for my goodies, same as always, and fell into step with me as we made our way back towards the apartment building. His little smile had warmth behind it – a warmth that had slowly grown between us over time, despite his stoic exterior and the aura of mystery that I couldn’t seem to fully pierce.

It had felt to me like our relationship grew into that warmth – that it indicated a connection between us. I’d always hoped that connection was more than just a friendly one, and it really felt like when he’d kissed me, it confirmed my biggest hopes and expectations. The culmination of our growing bond, and the biggest high of my life. Or so I’d thought.

Coming down from that high to a place of uncertainty was like stepping out of a warm space into shuddering cold.

“You’re awfully quiet tonight,” Xavier’s voice cut into my thoughts.

“Oh…” I realized with a start that we were already at the entrance to the building – and I’d been brooding the whole way without a word. My face flooded with heat again, and I shot him an apologetic look. “Sorry!”

He shrugged, unconcerned. “I don’t mind the silence.” Then he tipped his head to the side slightly. “Is everything all right, though?”

The sincerity in his eyes sent a rush of warmth through me. Xavier was so considerate… And it left me even more uncertain. Did I really think this man was the type to kiss me and then brush it off like nothing had happened? Maybe there was another explanation. Maybe… maybe he was waiting until we were alone to talk about it.

That gave me a bit more confidence. “Yeah, it’s fine,” I responded, and smiled at him as he held the door open for me to walk through. “I was just spacing out.”

Xavier nodded, as if that explained everything. “I see.”

I pressed the button for the elevator, feeling better already as I thought about my newest revelation. That was probably it – he just didn’t want to get all personal in public. Or he thought I wouldn’t want to. Either way, I fully expected him to invite himself to my place, and then he’d kiss me again and I could totally clarify that he was my boyfriend, and maybe we would kiss some more…

The elevator arrived, interrupting my impromptu fantasy. I stepped on, followed closely by the subject of said fantasy, and pressed the button for my floor.

Xavier reached over me and pressed the button for his floor.

That derailed my train of thought quite nicely. I glanced at him, only to see him calmly staring forward as if everything was perfectly normal. Which it was, except that it totally wasn’t.

Well. Maybe he wanted to invite me to his place. Maybe…

The elevator dinged and the doors slid open. I took a hesitant step out onto the foyer, glancing back at him to see if he would react.

He raised a hand at me in a silent wave. “Goodnight Allie.” And the doors slid shut.

It felt like it was happening in slow motion. I stared at him as his sides were slowly obscured until the final thin remaining image of him disappeared.

The elevator whirred to life again, and that was it.

---

“Why are men so confusing?” I mumbled, sinking my face lower on my hands as I stared across the table in the break room.

Tara spread her hands in response, a helpless look on her face. “Got me. Are you sure this guy isn’t a player? They can be awfully charming, you know…”

The thought of Xavier as some sort of… suave heartbreaker made me snort out a laugh. He was beautiful, sure, but not like that. More like in an untouchable sort of way. Or like someone who didn’t understand their own appeal. “Pretty sure, yeah.”

“Well, maybe he’s just… shy.” Tara shrugged, and then leaned forward, giving me an expectant sort of look. “Anyway, you’ve been telling me about this guy you’re crushing on for, like, forever – and now you say he’s kissed you? I think I’m entitled to a name, at least, right?” Before I could answer, she eagerly rushed right on with, “Do I know him? What does he look like?”

“Uh…” Crap. I’d made the mistake of piquing her interest a little too much. But usually Tara let me confess all my guy woes without seeming to care who was actually on my mind. I fumbled for a bit. “Well…”

She leaned even further into the table, elbows nearly touching mine across it. “Well?” she urged.

I’d walked right into this. I sighed. “You won’t say anything to anyone else, right?”

“Cross my heart.” If anything, she looked even more interested. “That means it is someone I know, right? Who?”

“It’s…” I hesitated for a moment, weighing my options, and then sighed, deciding it was only fair after all the times I’d moaned to her about my supposedly one-sided feelings. “It’s Xavier.”

Tara’s mouth fell open.

“What about me?”

I froze. That voice from behind me was unmistakable…

Xavier moved around me, peering at my face as if the answer to his question might be written there. He tilted his head to the side a bit, waiting for a response.

I opened my mouth. Closed it. Glanced across the table and made eye contact with Tara. She winced, sympathetic. I looked back to Xavier and took in a long breath, feeling my face grow hot and prickly. “… Nothing? I mean,” I added, feeling stupid, “just.. telling Tara how you live in my building!”

“He lives in your building?” She gasped, hands flying to her mouth. “Really?“

Xavier looked at her, and then at me. Blinked. “I see.”

He was totally not buying it. I could almost hear the questions whirring around in his head. I swallowed hard, scrambling for some kind of excuse that would get me out of that awkward situation.

“I’m actually her upstairs neighbor,” he said then, turning his attention back to Tara as if none of those questions were even a thing. “We live exactly one floor apart. Small world, isn’t it?”

Tara nodded vigorously, her eyes flitting from him to me and back again. She was clearly dying to ask me more, but wisely held her tongue. “Totally!”

Xavier looked over at me and offered a small smile. I couldn’t tell if it was an ‘I’m letting you off the hook’ smile or an ‘I will expose every one of your falsehoods in time’ smile. Either way, my face still felt like it was on fire. “I won’t interrupt,” he said in that calm, unassuming tone, and moved away from the table. “I just came in for some coffee.”

There was a long, strained moment of silence as he poured himself a mug. I glanced at Tara. She offered a helpless smile and a shrug. Eventually Xavier finished with his coffee and turned to leave.

The door shut behind him firmly, almost deliberately.

I let out the breath I’d been holding in a rush, slouching in my seat. Too close. Across from me, Tara whistled low. “That was so tense!” She shook her head, and then grinned at me. “So, Xavier! All this time? I never would’ve guessed, but you guys are partners, after all. And he’s super handsome.” She rested her elbows on the table again, leaning forward eagerly. “So what was it like when he kissed you?”

“Tara!” I glanced guiltily at the door, then lowered my voice. “It was… nice.” I recalled how gentle he’d been at first, lips pressing against mine with care. How he’d met my gaze with intensity in between, and kissed me again like he just couldn’t get enough. “Really nice. He was… sweet.”

She sighed, a bit wistfully. “I’ll bet he was. I never would’ve guessed – he’s so quiet! I guess you really can’t judge a book by its cover.”

“You really can’t.” Thinking back to my very first impression of Xavier – cool and mysterious – and then our current relationship, with his warm little smiles and his somewhat awkward social interactions, had my lips turning up at the corners. He was still a bit of a mystery, but he’d become a dependable presence in my life all the same.

“Well…” Tara drew the word out slowly, looking thoughtful. “I can’t say I know Xavier well enough – or at all, really – to say, but he doesn’t seem like the playboy type to me. And as your partner, I wouldn’t think he’d be messing with you just ’cause. So that’s good news!”

“Right…” Back to the original problem. I frowned. “But then why is he acting totally normal? And what am I supposed to call our current relationship?” Sighing, I dropped my face back onto my hand. “I really don’t get it.”

Tara patted my shoulder in a sympathetic sort of way. “Cheer up! He did kiss you, so that’s gotta be something, right? Did he say anything, like before or after he did it?”

I blinked. Right – I forgot. There were a few things we’d said, but most of it had related to the situation. But then…”He said, ‘This is also a first.’”

“Your first kiss together.” Tara sighed again, looking momentarily dreamy-eyed. “I’m so jealous! But it doesn’t really give us a lot to go on.”

It really didn’t. I tried to think back again, to what had happened after. I had been pretty euphoric after the kisses, so it was hard to remember exact details, but… “He also said ‘I wanted to do this for a long time’. And… ‘I want you to be my everything’.” Just thinking about it sent a warm rush through me, as it had back then. I couldn’t remember what I said back. Just… Xavier pouring his heart out, or so it had seemed.

And now… nothing.

“Phew!” Tara whistled again, cutting into my thoughts. “That’s pretty clear, right? I would totally think you’re dating after that!”

“Right?”I lifted my head to nod. “But then why is he acting like nothing happened now that it’s over?”

Tara spread her hands again, shrugging helplessly. “No idea. Men can be funny when it comes to relationships. It’s like they’re hot sometimes and cold other times. It’s weird.”

That certainly described Xavier, at least at first… He could be so warm sometimes, and then frustratingly distant in the next moment. But it felt like we’d made a lot of headway on that. He had certainly felt a lot closer to me in the past while, even without counting the kisses.

But then… what had I said back to him in that moment? I couldn’t remember very well. My own words seemed to blur a little in my mind. Maybe I was the one who hadn’t been clear? Could it be that Xavier was just as uncertain as I was right now?

It was a possibility. And maybe one that I could work with…

---

Luckily for me, neither I nor Xavier were out on missions that evening, thanks mostly to our recent 21 day stakeout. And so, after I managed to pick a cute but appropriately comfy outfit, I texted him: “Want to come over and watch movies?”

He responded almost immediately: “Sure Ill bring snacks.”

Good. Excellent. And maybe a little nerve-wracking. My stomach was in knots thinking about what I had planned. I closed my phone’s screen, and then reopened it to re-read what he had sent. Closed it again and put it in my pocket. Reached into my pocket to pull it out again. And then realized I was pacing around my apartment like a restless cat.

There was a knock at the door.

I froze, then took a deep breath, straightened up, and strode over to open it.

Xavier stood on the other side as expected, looking perfectly relaxed in a hoodie and comfortable pants. His face softened into a warm smile when he looked at me. “Hi Allie. Thanks for inviting me.” He reached out to hand me the bag of snacks he’d brought.

I took them from him, trying to control the trembling of my fingers, and managed a smile in return. “Of course! Come on in.”

He stepped in as I moved out of the way, slipping on the guest slippers I kept at my front entrance with easy familiarity. “What are we watching?”

“Uh… well…” I hadn’t thought a whole lot about that, honestly. But there were options. “How about you pick?” I waved at the screen. “There’s a bunch on the streaming services.”

“I can do that.” He nodded, then tilted his head at me. “Is there something wrong? You look tense.”

“Huh? Oh… no, nothing!” I shook my head rapidly, feeling my heart speed up in my chest. “Just… a long day at work, that’s all.”

“I see.” He seemed willing to take me at my word, moving to sit on one side of the couch and bringing up the selections on the screen. “Are you sure you don’t have a preference for what we watch?”

I waved my hand at him, setting the snacks down on the coffee table and taking a seat next to him. “Surprise me.”

He picked out one of my favorites without hesitation. A little warm glow lit in my chest, and I relaxed marginally. This really should be easy – it was Xavier, after all.

… Or maybe the fact that it was Xavier actually made it harder.

Either way, I gave the opening of the movie a little time to play and then leaned in to link my arm with his – simple, comfy, and cuddly. Nothing we hadn’t done before, but… step one.

Xavier glanced sideways at me, smiled, and moved his hand to link his fingers with mine.

Again, nothing we hadn’t done before, but it was on the list of things I’d thought over a million times trying to analyze if it meant Something More. Like, maybe Xavier was just a cuddly kind of guy. Or maybe he liked me. I’d gone back and forth in my brain so many times in the past that it gave me a headache.

Hopefully I’d get the definitive answer that very day. I mentally gave myself a little boost, and shifted closer, squeezing his arm and not-so-subtly pushing my chest against it. Step two.

He blinked a few times in rapid succession, eyes flickering over to me as if to confirm his suspicions… before straightening again to rest on the screen.

Right. I hadn’t expected it to be that easy. I took a moment to steady myself, and then very deliberately rested my head against his shoulder, rubbing my cheek over it. Step three.

Xavier paused the movie, tilting his head to gaze down at me. “Are you trying to get my attention?”

I made an attempt to bat my lashes at him. “Is it working?”

He smiled. “Maybe.” Then he shifted, moving his shoulder away from my face so that he could turn and face me. He leaned in closer.

My heart kicked it up a notch as I realized what he was about to do. And it should’ve been a good thing. In fact, it made sense that my actions would lead to this. I just… hadn’t anticipated it somehow. I thought we’d talk first. Or he’d suddenly confess to liking me and everything would be magically clearer. And… well, maybe we’d get to this part later. But not now!

“Wait.” Ignoring every instinct in my body, I brought up a hand to cover his mouth and physically hold him at bay. “Just… wait.”

Xavier blinked, but obediently stilled. He stared at me with some confusion.

His lips were warm and soft against my fingers – my heart was pounding a mile a minute. “Before you… you know… kiss me again…” I lowered my hand, feeling my face grow hot. But I was determined to go on; this had to be asked. “Xavier, what are we?”

He titled his head at me. “Deepspace… Hunters?”

“No, no, not that!” I shook my head, then heaved a sigh. “I mean…” I waved my hand between us, indicating towards our hearts. “This… this thing between us, where you kiss me, and say things like wanting me to be your everything; what does it mean, exactly, when nothing changes?” Once I’d gotten going, it felt easier to just let the words flow. “Do you like me, as in like me? Am I your girlfriend? Are we going out? What are we?”

Xavier stared at me for just a moment, and then frowned, eyebrows furrowing. “Does kissing not convey those things on its own?” He brought up a hand to his face, one knuckle bent towards his mouth. “I feel like the books and movies may have left a few things out…”

Books? Movies? I stared at him right back, dumbfounded. Then a sliver of memory surfaced in my brain, and everything suddenly clicked.

“This is also a first.”

I had thought when he’d said that, he meant our first. But apparently, he also meant his first.

I took in a breath, and let it out slowly. “Xavier, you never actually asked me out.”

He opened his mouth, then quickly shut it again.

“Also,” in the face of how flummoxed he looked, I felt bold enough to add, “you just kept acting like normal, without anything changing afterwards. What was I supposed to think?”

His brow furrowed again. “I didn’t realize things had to change between us.” His gaze was guileless. “Should I call you something different, like ‘baby’ or ‘honey’? Do you want me to hold your hand when we’re in public? Because I have been holding back a little.” Something flashed in his eyes then, a darker look that made my heart skip a beat. “I like the idea of everyone knowing you’re mine.”

And just like that, he had me speechless. I stared up at him, feeling warmth flush through my whole body. Was it really this simple, after all that thinking I’d done? Had this whole thing been just a misunderstanding all along?

Had Xavier really been just as clueless as I was about all of this stuff?

It sure seemed that way.

All at once, it felt very natural. Easy, even. “I think I’d like that too,” I managed finally, and then my brain caught up with the rest. “You can just keep calling me Allie, though.”

“Deal.” He smiled, squeezing my hand, and then lifted it to gentle brush his lips over my fingers.

The gesture sent another wave of heat through me, especially coupled with the intense gaze he fixed me with after, but I managed to keep it together. “Aren’t you forgetting something, though?”

“Hm?” He lowered my hand, lips still turned up in a little smile.

“You still haven’t asked me out.”

Xavier brought up his other hand to gently caress my face, urging me forward until our foreheads touched. “Okay,” he breathed, stroking my cheek with his thumb. “Please go out with me, Allie.”

I smiled back, covering his hand with mine. “Sure.”

He leaned in, warm breath brushing my face as our lips pressed together sweetly. My heart soared, stomach fluttering. It was perfect.

And it felt like just the beginning of our story.