"Alfie?" Koda's hoarse voice made its way into Alfie's dream. He dreamt that he was running through a long corridor, so long that the end plummeted into darkness. There was a deep voice whispering and all throughout the dream, Alfie had to find the owner of the voice, so he could understand what he was saying. The whispers were a secret, one he wasn't supposed to know- "Alfie?"

Koda's voice lifted the medium from his dream. He groaned a response. His eyes felt like they had sunken inches into his face.

"Are you okay?" Koda rested a chin on the side of Alfie's arm. It was 4 am and he had been instructed to wake the medium up every two hours.

"Yeah," Alfie whispered, trying not to wake up too much otherwise he'd feel the pain in his back and head. "Go back to sleep."

"Yep, good."

By the sound of it, Koda was half asleep too.

* * * * *

Morning came quicker than what Alfie would have liked. He wanted to lay with Koda forever in a comfortable state of bliss, where nothing troubled him, and all he had to think about was how warm the boy sleeping next to him felt.

"Alfie?" Koda asked and Alfie felt his breath against his nose.

"Go away," he grumbled, trying not to soften his frown at the sound of Koda's chuckle.

"Just checking that you're not dead."

"Wish I was."

Koda rolled his eyes and moved his face close enough for their lips to tingle. "Do you want breakfast?"

Alfie didn't have the energy to peel his eyes open. "I think I want-" he paused, frowning deeper. "What's touching my face?"

"My face."

The silence that came after was comical. Alfie tried not to smile, and Koda tried to stay as still as possible because if he moved even a millimetre, their lips would touch.

"Are you familiar with the term personal space?" Alfie asked, and their lips lightly touched.

"Yes, and I've heard that you're not supposed to give any to people you like."

Alfie opened his eyes and his heart swelled with love. His long-term crush was right in front of him and staring at his lips with as much affection in his eyes as Alfie had in his chest. "Good morning," he whispered. It hadn't quite dawned on the medium that Koda actually liked him, and they labelled each other as boyfriends, and they were developing a relationship that would hopefully last a lifetime.

"Good morning." Koda closed the millimetre gap between them and kissed Alfie, fulfilling the longing to be close. "Your mum said I can stay all day if you want me to."

"So, no college for me?" Alfie sat up and the pain zapped straight to his eyes like his skull cracked in two. "I need some paracetamol or something." His eyelids scrunched closed. Another pair of hands touched his head and Alfie almost stopped breathing when Koda held his face against his chest, delicately massaging his temples.

"There's some next to your bed, here." Koda handed him the painkillers and water. Alfie took it quickly and rested his head back against him, long enough for the pain to stop throbbing. "You're definitely having the day off."

"I'll be fine once I'm up." Alfie swung his legs over the bed one by one. He was used to headaches, but the pain from a concussion was a dozen headaches that formed together to create one big hammering ache.

* * * * *

The rest of the morning synced into Alfie's slow pace. By lunchtime, he was twiddling his thumbs and utterly fed up of doing nothing. "I have to be in my office."

Koda looked up from his laptop. "No." Despite Koda having the college day off, he couldn't afford to skip revision. "You need rest."

"I'll rest in my office."

Koda watched Alfie on the couch. He sat rigid and tense, fidgeting with his rings and chewing his lip. "Are there ghosts around you?" Koda barely registered how strange the question sounded.

Alfie's eyes flicked around the room. A tall man stood by the TV, dressed in pyjamas. A child sat on the coffee table, swinging his legs and asking to see his parents. A teenage girl paced behind Koda with a deep gash on her head and blood staining her top and jeans. A very old man sat next to him on the couch, muttering about his newspaper and someone called Pauline.

"Some," Alfie sighed. "I need to channel them to Connor. I need my office to do that." The medium climbed to his feet and Koda shut his laptop to protest, but Alfie didn't let him speak. "Koda, I love that you're so caring, though I can't sit here and do nothing. My head hurts, but I can deal with it, so please relax and let me get on with stuff."

Koda sank back into the couch. He could now see the irritation within Alfie and respected that he spoke calmly despite him being annoyed. "Alright," he said with a smile. "I'll just worry about you from afar."

Alfie made his way over. The guilt didn't quite make it to his heart. He didn't feel bad about being honest. Koda was decent enough to understand that. "I'm not used to it, and I know I won't get used to it." Alfie sat on the arm of the chair, as slow as his sore back would let him. "But that doesn't mean-"

"That you want me to stop," Koda finished, "I know, I know. I'm not changing because you're not used to someone breathing down your neck, but I'll compromise."

Alfie grinned and moved closer to kiss his cheek. "And that is why you're perfect for me."

Koda's eyes followed the medium as he quietly made his way to the door of the living room. "I'll check on you soon, though," he called after him.

"I'm counting on it." Alfie looked back and Koda winked at him. Alfie's insides turned to liquid quicker than his cheeks turned red. He swiftly left the room to the sound of Koda's chuckles. "Calm down," Alfie whispered to himself and moved faster. "It was just a wink, calm down."

* * * * *

After an hour, Alfie had sent the ghosts to Connor, meditated, cleaned his office, and wrote about a few ghosts in his journal. He was deep in thought about Enya when he remembered that Koda was still in his home.

"Feeling better?" a voice asked and Alfie almost dropped the tiger's eye stone he twisted in his grip.

"Dorinto, I really don't have the energy to talk."

"I know, I just wanted to check in on you, and to tell you that I broke that guy, what's his name... Chris! Yeah, I broke his phone. I accidentally nudged it out of his bedroom window."

Alfie laughed and turned to face the ghost sitting at the table. Dorinto's brown hair, slicked back with gel, always entertained Alfie. Dorinto looked like he had walked out of a movie about old-fashioned gangsters. "Well, as long as it was an accident, there's nothing I can do about it, not that I would anyway," he mumbled the last part. "Thanks for paying him a visit, now please go before I throw up all over the place."

"No problem. Oh, and Koda's in your mum's studio." Dorinto grinned and vanished.

Alfie held his head and stood incredibly still until the pain mellowed, then made his way to the studio, surprised by his need for someone else's company. Alfie heard talking when he approached the door covered in paint. He remembered helping to decorate it when he was little. By the bottom, two small hand prints were splattered in blue. It really stuck out against the white walls and pine flooring.

Alfie peeked inside the studio to catch his mother and Koda in their natural state. They were kneeling on the floor by the window. Molly was handing Koda multiple brushes, talking about her favourites as Koda admired one of Molly's most recent paintings.

"I'm not very good with watercolours," Koda said and Alfie rolled his eyes. Koda was by far the most talented person in their art class.

"Alfie is very good at using them. I'm sure he'll give you some tips," Molly beamed.

Koda grinned and asked something related to the paintbrushes. Alfie stared with a gentle curl in his lips. Anxious thoughts about his parents accepting him for who he was, now no longer existed. Koda and his mother were getting along like they had known each other for years. Alfie dreamt of a sight so normal and so right.

After watching them for thirty seconds more, Alfie slipped through the door and made his presence known. The strong smell of paint hung all around him, provoking his inspiration to start drawing. "Are you talking about how great I am?" he asked, studying the way Koda's hazel eyes brightened when they made contact.

"Of course," Molly said and kept her staring discrete when Alfie used Koda's shoulder to lower himself to the floor. Koda's hand rested between Alfie's shoulder blades, and it lingered there for a while.

"How are you feeling?"

Alfie fought back another eye roll at Koda's question of concern. "Much better, actually." It wasn't an entire lie. He could breathe with more ease now that the ghosts had gone.

"You hungry?" Molly asked, taking her paintbrushes back and putting them in a bamboo pot on the windowsill.

"Yeah, and kinda tired." Alfie could see Koda trying to hold back his opinions on how Alfie should be in bed and resting, and eating healthy, and staying hydrated, and not moving too much. "I'll have some food, then I might have a nap." Koda quickly nodded his head and Alfie bit his lip to stop himself from smiling. "Sorry that I'm being so boring today."

"Well, I'd rather be here than at home by myself. I have a lot of college work to catch up on anyway, so I wouldn't be much fun even if you didn't need to rest." Koda always tried his best to make Alfie feel better. It didn't matter if it was physically or mentally. It was wired into Koda to care so much about the ones around him. Alfie wondered if that was one of Enya's qualities because Koda certainly didn't get it from Morlen, did he?

As they made their way to the kitchen, Alfie didn't mind the boring stuff. Couples still had to get on with their daily tasks and separate lives. If he and Koda could happily exist side by side, they would always make it work.