Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow (Aiden Gallagher x Reader)

VII

You and Aidan's relationship wasn't labelled until Valentine's day the following year. Cliche, but true. The two of you needed closure and the February festival was a good excuse to sit down and have the conversation. Officially, you'd been dating since that day.

You can't say everyone was surprised, but you were trying to keep your relationship under wraps from the media. It's not that you wanted to hide, but you mutually agreed it was for the best as a small amount of Aidan's fans were known for being aggressive and neither of you wanted to deal with the stress those specific fans caused.

Unfortunately, that same December, Catherine's flower shop had to shut down. It was upsetting, you'd worked there since you were fifteen and all the staff felt like family. You had left your final shift that day, walking out into the cold to make your way home. The winter air was biting at your nose and every hair on your body stood up in a protective manner.

When you finally arrived at the apartment, your face flushed at the difference in temperature. You gloomily dumped your bag by the couch, sighing. You could only just hear a cheery melody through the wall. With a small smile, you made your way to Aidan's room.

You entered without knocking, which didn't surprise him too much. Wordless, you crawled into his lap, cuddling into his chest. This was a common occurrence when you got upset now, whether you'd rewatched Avengers: Endgame or your photography got rejected by an agency.

Aidan tensed under you, he was streaming at that exact moment. You noticed what you thought was discomfort and looked up slightly to ask, "You okay?" At the sound of your quiet voice, his body relaxed.

He nodded quickly and briefly wrapped his arms around you before stretching over to continue playing. The first few times were a struggle but, since then, he had managed to master the skill.

His veiny hands stretched across a few octaves of the keys, deciding what to play. His mind drifted back to the first time you watched Sweeney Todd together. You were surprisingly fascinated by the movie, even if Tim Burton was no longer someone you idolised (because he was a racist asshole).

He remembered printing off the sheet music weeks ago and learning the one song you had blasted through the aux a million times. As he reached for the correct keys, the Sondheim piece started to come back to him.

As soon as his fingers started to press down on the notes, you immediately recognised the melody as 'Not While I'm Around' and you relaxed slightly. You quietly began to hum in the place of lyrics, closing your eyes in utter bliss.

His hands were gliding across the keyboard, looking effortless as the tune rose from the instrument. He couldn't see the small smile on your face, but he could feel the shape of it pressed against the skin of his neck, making him relax his neck to lean his head on top of yours.

Aidan could see the messages on the live stream blowing up out of the corner of his eye. He sighed a little at the thought of all the media attention it was going to attract. He knew he was going to have to tell you when you were rested and that it was likely going to make you upset.

Truth be told, he was worried. Most of his fans were incredibly supportive, but there was the odd couple that were strict on everyone they knew was in his life. You always took criticism very seriously and he didn't want someone to comment something negative about you and make you change who you were because, to him, you were perfect.

But he had to push that aside now because the secret was out. It was pretty clear you weren't just friends from the way you were holding each other and the internet was going to be all over it.

He hadn't even noticed you were asleep until you let out a cute little snore. He smiled, lifting his hands from the keys and wrapping his arms around you. He quickly leant over and ended the live stream before carefully lifting you to place you in his bed.

You only stirred a little when he put you down. He decided to crawl in with you, pulling the covers up over himself and pulling you in to bury your head in his chest. He played with your hair as his eyelids grew heavy, as if his eyelashes had suddenly coated in lead.

Aidan fell asleep with you curled up into his torso because in that moment he had never felt more relaxed in his life. And he would've given anything to be able to stay that way forever.