Brannal regarded him with bemusement. “And if I wanted to tear it all down and start over?”
“Then we’d probably be a bit cold come winter, but I’m sure we could figure it out.”
Brannal hauled him into his arms again. (Really, Perian loved this; it happened all the time, and it was the best.)
“You’re too good to me. You shouldn’t spoil me like this.”
“There’s no such thing,” Perian told him. “You should be entirely spoiled all the time.”
“That’s a nice sentiment,” Brannal said. “But to be clear, I don’t ever want you to feel that you need to, uh, indulge my every whim.”
Perian raised an eyebrow.
Brannal sputtered a little. “I mean, I’m not going to complain in the slightest if you want to indulge me that way all the time. I think we both enjoy it, and I love that. But it feels a little like you feel you have to give me everything because I’m here, and I don’t want that.”
Perian began to nod as he finally understood what Brannal was trying to say.
“Yes, all right, I see what you mean. That would make me uncomfortable, too. So just to clarify, I promise I will tell you if there’s something that I really don’t want to do ordon’t like. Maybe we’re still sort of in the wide-eyed and happy phase, but at the moment, it all just feels so wonderful, you know?”
Brannal smiled, nodded, and rested his hands on Perian’s hips, pulling them together so they were pressed against one another.
“I do know what you mean, and it definitely feels like that. As long as you’re indulging me because you feel like it and not because you feel like youhave to, I’m not going to complain.”
“Deal,” Perian agreed. “When you get annoying, I’ll tell you.”
“Perfect,” Brannal said, laughing, and leaned in to kiss Perian once more.
Epilogue
One month later
Why does this drawer not work!” Brannal said with frustration.
Perian looked up and couldn’t help but laugh at the look of pure frustration on Brannal’s face as he sat at Perian’s father’s desk in the study.
They’d settled in together with remarkable ease, given it was utterly unlike the life they’d lived together to this point. But there were still moments of annoyance.
With a grin, Perian said, “My father always used to joke that should be a false drawer.”
“Why would there be a false drawer on the right-hand side exactly where it would be handy to put supplies?”
“Because my father was left-handed. He always used the other side,” Perian said with a shrug. “He said he’d leave it like that because he didn’t need it, and I could fix it when I started using it.”
Brannal stared at him. “Your father told you that you could fix it when you started using it?”
“Yes,” Perian agreed, confused sincethis was a straightforward concept.
“But you haven’t.”
Perian shook his head. “I don’t use the desk that often, and I’m used to using the drawer on the left.”
Brannal stared at him for a moment. “What if he put something in the one on the right for you to find after he was gone?”
Perian sucked in a sharp breath. “Brannal, if nothing’s in there, I’m going to be so disappointed.”
Brannal made a face. “Sorry. The idea just popped into my head.”
“No, no, it’s a good idea,” Perian said, jumping up to come round to that side of the desk, trying to shake away his sudden nerves. “We have to check now.”
