Epilogue
Six Months Later
“Honey, I’m home!”
The front door closed after Aiden’s cheerful announcement.
“I’m in the kitchen,” Mike called back.
Aiden came into the kitchen, hair tangled around his shoulders from his windy motorcycle ride. He was dressed in his usual after performance wear, joggers, crop top t-shirt, sneakers, and a hoodie. Usually, he came home with a bare face, but tonight his eyes were still made up and glitter dusted his cheekbones.
“How’s my favorite sexy influencer, superhero-partner, lover?” Aiden asked with a teasing smile.
“I’m your only influencer, superhero-partner, lover.”
“You forgot sexy,” Aiden whispered as he grabbed Mike by his gear harness and tugged him down into a kiss.
Their lips met in a soft, sweet hello. Mike slid his hands through Aiden’s hair to feel the ebony silk on his skin.
“How was your day?” Aiden asked when they separated.
“It was good,” Mike answered while moving to pour his boyfriend a glass of ice water. “I talked with Marin. My subscriber count is growing by the hundreds every hour and sales linked to my videos are bringing the company a lot of money. He let me know that he’s making my in-house influencer job a full-time position.”
“Nice! And what about house hunting?”
“I found something in our price range that I really like. It has a finished basement that I can use for recording, so I won’t have to spend too much time fixing it up before I can put it to use. And there’s room for your barre and pole as well. I made an appointment for us to go and check it out together.”
Aiden gave him a soft smile, happiness glowing in his golden eyes.
“Sounds like you had a good day.”
“I did. What about you? You’re home early and you still have your stage makeup on. Is everything all right?”
“Yeah. I wanted to make sure we had a few minutes to talk before we went out to patrol tonight.”
“What’s up?” Mike asked with some concern.
Aiden looked nervous, an expression he didn’t normally wear since he was usually nothing but confidence.
Mike waited, curious but patient until Aiden nodded.
“Fuck, I’m just going to do it.”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box in a distinctly recognizable shade of blue.
Mike’s heart started pounding. They’d talked about marriage, but he didn’t want to assume...
“Mike Zielinski. I love you so incredibly much. Love the way you make me eat vegetables with my greasy junk food snacks, love the way you kick ass by my side, love the way you’re six feet of muscle but also the sweetest teddy bear. I love you. And I would love it if you said yes to being my husband.”
Aiden opened the little blue box. Inside lay a thick silver band inlaid with green and gold gemstones.
Mike silently reached for the ring. Aiden stood there, nervously biting his lip while he brushed a single fingertip over the sparkling jewels. “I like that this has our colors in it. Emeralds and topaz?”
Aiden stopped chewing on his lip long enough to give a one-word answer.
“Yeah.”
Mike took the ring from the box and slid it onto his ring finger.
