Dylan had no idea where their relationship was leading, but he was thrilled to follow them on this journey. He hoped Valentine’s Day led to more wonders, more celebrations. He hoped meeting Rus’ family proved a treasure of an experience. Not only for him, but for Kaiden too. They each deserved to see that not all families hated their queer children.
The three of them rolled around in the bed, and Dylan lost himself to the pleasures of their company. He couldn’t wait to explore everything life had to offer with his boyfriends.
Epilogue
Three Years Later
Aftersleeping in later than expected, Kaiden woke up and went to wake Rus before he realized it was his day off. Somehow, Kaiden had gotten used to the chaos of their schedules. His, Rus’, Dylan’s, and making sure they all overlapped at some point or another.
Kaiden checked his phone to find a slew of messages from Cassie and Andy. After reading through them all, he huffed. Part of him was relieved to find Rus’ siblings so welcoming, while another part of him found it incredibly overwhelming to keep up with all the family expectations. He and Dylan had found themselves roped into a welcoming family since their first visit.
Cassandra and Andromeda—both of whom didn’t seem to have a problem with their full names, unlike Rus—tended to arrange the family get-togethers the most, second only to their mother.
“Okay, your sisters are concerned that Dylan and I won’t be able to convince you to come home for your surprise birthdayparty without giving away the secret,” Kaiden said, standing beside Rus’ side of the bed.
Kaiden wasn’t ruining the surprise. Rus had forewarned that his sisters loved to plan surprise birthdays for everyone, not for the person being celebrated, but mainly as a testament to their party planning skills.
“What should I say?”
“Tell ‘em to get fucked,” Rus grumbled into his pillow.
Kaiden rolled his eyes. “Suppose I can figure something out later.”
While Kaiden found the idea of a surprise party sweet, he understood Rus’ disdain for such things. After all, he was born on a day with constant practical jokes and unwanted surprises. So, planning an April 1st surprise birthday clearly never sat well with Rus.
Kaiden sluggishly made his way to the kitchen, enjoying the lazy morning, and went to make breakfast. He was still the only one in the house who cooked, which he quite preferred.
Once he finished cooking, he fished out his phone again and texted Dylan.
Kaiden dropped a photo of his breakfast that he admittedly spent far too much time making look pretty.
True. Kaiden knew more than anything that Dylan had gone to great lengths to balance his much busier schedule. All the same, Kaiden liked sending little reminders, little check-ins. If anything, it gave him a reason to talk. Plus, it made Kaiden feel helpful, even in the tiniest of ways.
Dylan’s work continued playing a bigger role in his life, the more Jasmine stepped back. Technically, she still ran Dorothy’s Home, but had gotten around to traveling more, helping others start up their own queer homes, whether it was for teens, homeless trans adults, disabled queer people, or just those in the community generally struggling to get by.
With Jasmine away to help these projects get up and running, that left Dylan to lead the helm and keep Dorothy’s Home afloat. Which he did quite well. It seemed Dylan had learnedeverything over the last three years, and what he hadn’t learned, his enrollment in community college helped to fill in the gaps.
It didn’t surprise Kaiden that Dylan suggested Sakura, considering it was downtown and right around the corner from his job, and Dylan knew how much Kaiden hated abandoning decent parking downtown. Now, he could walk to meet them for lunch without losing his space.
Kaiden walked over to his bedroom and shook Rus before turning to step over to the closet.
“Breakfast is ready,” he said with a cheery lilt, then went to change.
Rus yawned and stretched until he shook away the sleep, groggily eyeing Kaiden as he changed out of his pajamas. It’d taken a while, even after showing Dylan and Rus what he looked like without his corset vests or compression tanks, but he’d finally gotten comfortable enough to be himself entirely around them both.
Kaiden stripped down, taking his time as he rifled through the closet, deciding which corset vest he’d wear. Eventually, he settled on crimson red since it went with his nails, then he went over to his vanity to ensure his makeup matched his outfit.
“Looking cute.” Rus rolled out of bed and gave Kaiden a sloppy kiss on the cheek, intentionally smudging his makeup.
“Ass.” Kaiden glared, biting back a smirk.
“I am what I love.” Rus swaggered out of the bedroom and went to grab his breakfast. “Thank you, sweetie.”
“Uh-huh.” Kaiden fixed his face and went back to work.
Shortly after graduating, Rus had moved into the trailer, which made life easier for everyone. They didn’t have to debate about whose place to go to. Sure, they dropped by Dorothy’s Home from time to time to help organize donations, assist with a teen moving out, or just generally dropping by for dinner. But when Dylan wasn’t running things at the home, he knew where to go for a little escape.
Plus, with the cost of Rus’ master’s program, even his shitty apartment seemed overly expensive, and his internships with local campaigns didn’t pay. But Rus didn’t really work on those for the salary, merely the chance to make the world a bit brighter without having to punch a bigot.
