There was a tiny patch of corridor, little more than a landing, behind the heavy maintenance door where they’d originally broken in. The door, Surit suddenly remembered, that had a clear line of sight from the windows that lined the upper floors.

“Don’t open it!” Surit said, suddenly urgent, clinging to the ladder.

Tennal stopped in the act of drawing the pass from his pocket. “Why—oh.” Tennal apparently remembered the sight lines as well, and came to the same conclusion. “I suppose we’d better give our friend time to get away from this level before we run for it.” He slid down to sit on the floor behind the door, his back against the wall.

“I would like to get off this ladder,” Surit informed him. “If you could not take up all the space.”

Tennal lifted his face to Surit, pale in the wash of blue light, and grinned suddenly. He reached up, grabbed Surit’s ankle, and tugged as Surit got off the last rung. He moved over just as Surit stumbled to the ground.

One of Surit’s hands landed on Tennal’s head to save himself, which Tennal frankly deserved. Surit steadied himself on his feet and crouched next to Tennal in the cramped space.

Tennal tilted his head up when Surit released it. “Poker face still going strong, I see. You weren’t worried about being caught.”

“I got one hundred and three percent on my covert-break-in module,” Surit said. “The examiner wanted to give me a prize after the test but couldn’t find me to do it.”

He saw Tennal believe him for a split second then catch on, grinning. “Oh, fuck off.” Tennal fidgeted until he was leaning more comfortably, pressing back against Surit. “How long can it take to do a patrol?”

Tennal was right there. The lean blade of his shoulders was a warm line against Surit’s arm and chest. Surit couldn’t think of anything else.

“Tennal,” Surit said. That only made Tennal turn to look at him, awkward in their cramped quarters. His face was too close. There was a seditious gleam in his eyes, his cheeks flushed with success.

Surit’s memory, unbidden, presented him with a flash from the Note: Tennal, his presence like a lightning bolt, pressing his hand to Surit’s chest and making an invitation. Tennal had not grown safer. Surit had only come to know him: the one burning star in a system of inert planets, flaring so brightly it was dangerous to orbit. Every layer of him Surit had witnessed was annihilating. Every step he got closer to Tennal was in full acceptance of his own destruction.

Tennal leaned in. They shouldn’t do this. Surit couldn’t remember why.

Surit closed the gap and kissed him.