"Uh. I had sex with Jan, and then I kind of vomited a bunch of thoughts on Raine, and then I-- realized the difference between sex with you and sex with Jan is that I love you."

"I want to say something appropriately sympathetic but the only thing I can think of is I love you." 

"And I love you and I don't want to make you miserable and-- I can figure the other things out. But I know that."

"We can figure it out," he says, soft. 

The only solution to that is kissing.

It has been way too long since Lev kissed someone he actually really wanted to kiss.

And if he winds up sprawled on the floor with Lev on top of him, well, who's to say which of them tipped them over? 

He holds on to both of Marlo's hands as hard as he can with their fingers intertwined, pins him to the ground, kisses him.

He relaxes into Lev's touch, lets the tension drain out of his shoulders, lets Lev lead the kiss.

Lev moves his hands a bit so he's holding down Marlo's wrists and keeps kissing him.

His face goes soft and his breath changes and he's so so relaxed. 

(His posture is not at all dissimilar to Raine's, when Lev saw her being tied up.) 

"You're like me."

His eyes flutter closed and he ducks his head. "How so," and his voice is dreamy-soft. 

"You're broken too."

The idea of Lev being broken feels wrong but articulating that in a way that won't make Lev feel worse would be difficult at the best of times and his mind feels like it's moving through molasses. 

"Yeah," he says, and kisses Lev. 

Lev keeps pinning him down and kisses him.

He feels like he's melting from the inside out — it's okay Lev has him he doesn't have to fight anymore — he smiles up into Lev's mouth and lets his thighs spread apart.

Lev's hips are grinding against Marlo's hips-- it's so nice, it's so good, why did he ever decide to stop doing this--

The contact is so good, the weight of Lev on him is so good, the pressure is so good, he could stay in this moment half-floating and half-melted forever and that would be good. 

It occurs to Lev that it would feel even better if there were fewer pants.

Lev is so right. 

Marlo's breath hitches and he makes tiny little breathy sounds when Lev touches him. 

What if less pants and also more hands. 

Yes. Less pants and more hands. It's been much much too long since he got to touch Lev and he still very much enjoys doing it. 

He tries to say "I love you" while still kissing Marlo. It comes out as "mmmrmmph."

Marlo gets the intent anyway. 

Eventually his breath hitches and he accidentally bites Marlo's lip and he finishes.