“Yes. Nobody could expect you to return home alone, and to hell with it anyway. Stay with me, Joel. I want to go to sleep with you next to me, and find out what it’s like to wake up with you. I’m quite sure you’re foul-tempered.”

“Find out,” Joel said and leaned into him.

They were still on the sofa some time later, although definitely planning to get up at any moment, when the telephone rang. Aaron shoved Joel off and hauled himself up. “Hello? ... Ah. Yes. Yes, I see. Well, that will cause comment. Thank you, Helen. Good night.”

Joel looked up. “News?”

“Colthorne just shot himself on the doorstep of Scotland Yard.”

“God, I can’t stand bad losers,” Joel said, which felt like all the epitaph Aaron cared to hear. “Shall we go to bed?”

It was such a simple sentence, with its domesticity, its casual plural, and it brought up every hair on Aaron’s neck with pleasure. “Yes,” he said. “Or, in a moment. I wanted to say, I have a proposal for you.”

“Aren’t we still reeling from the last one?” Joel remarked. “Go on.”

“I told you my grandmother left me a legacy. I bought this flat, and the rest has been sitting in the bank doing nothing because I’ve had nothing to do with it.” He took a breath. “How would you feel about a trip to Germany?”

Joel stilled. “Are you serious?”

“I need a break, time to think. You’re going to have a lot of people bothering you that you don’t want to be bothered by—”

“Happening already. You should see my postbag.”

“And we deserve some time. I speak adequate German. We could take a holiday, and see about that prosthetic you want. Visit the man so you can see for yourself what he can do.”

Joel’s mouth moved soundlessly. Aaron took a moment to appreciate that rare occurrence. “But— Really? But—”

“No?”

“No, yes, but— I mean, I’ve thought about it as a dream for a long time, but what if the real thing isn’t what I want? If we go all that way and it doesn’t seem worth it—”

“Then we’ll have learned something. We’ll have tried.”

“Right,” Joel said. “Taking me to Germany is quite a lot of trying.”

Aaron took his hand, curling their fingers together. “It’s not gratitude, in case you’re wondering. Still less obligation.”

“What is it, then?”

Aaron considered his answer. He’d have liked to come up with a witty remark, or a playful jab of the kind Joel was so good at, but the only thing coming to mind was the truth.

“That I love you,” he said. “I love you, I want us to live, and from now on, if you find yourself living with anything, I want it to be me.”