Justin moved beneath him, with him, like it had always been, like everything. The world blurred around him and time blurred with it, twisting and stretching with the weight of every time before and every time to come and everything. JC didn't know how long it had been before he realized that the sounds Justin was making had resolved themselves into words, thin and tattered, threading through JC's mind just a little too low for him to hear. He laid his head against Justin's chest, still just for a moment, and listened.

"Every letter an alphabet," Justin said, the words a new promise and an old hymn. Justin's voice was shaking with the weight of everything those words contained, and JC traced his lips along the line of Justin's throat to feel the tremble there. "Every time the first time."

"I love you," JC said, and it couldn't have been the first time but it felt like it, the first time and every time. Justin didn't say anything but JC knew he'd heard when he saw Justin's smile.

"Every letter an alphabet," Justin said, again and again. The words shivered against Justin's skin, against JC's mouth. "Every time the first time."