Page 37 of Conflict Conclusion

Leon paused his box destruction, and James suddenly felt like he was intruding, even though they were in his and Leon’s apartment.

God, he would never get tired of saying that.

“You don’t need to get a cat for me, Aspen. I’m plenty happy with you, Noah, and Gordie,” Charlie said, his voice gruff as a slight blush crept out from beneath his beard.

“But would you be happier with a cat? I know petting them calms me, James, and Leon down. Would it make you feel safer while being in the city? I just want you to be as happy as possible.”

Noah and Leon were wearing identical expressions of affection for Aspen, and if James turned around, he bet Charlie would be making the same one. Hell, even James felt it, that ball in his stomach vibrating happily from having all these wonderful people in their home and in their life.

“We’re still figuring out our schedule, but once we have a predictable cadence down, I think I’ll be plenty comfortable coming in to see you both,” Charlie said. “And James and Leon, of course.”

“We should set up a shared calendar!” Aspen said, bouncing onto their toes as they swung Yarmen back into a cradled position. “We already have one with Rachel and Blair—should we just have a massive calendar? We need to add Quinn, too, and I think Blair is getting another new roommate. Come to think of it, Kristen at the salon was just asking if we could go for drinks to discuss something or other, so maybe I should add her, too.”

All musings about a feline roommate were replaced by Aspen rattling off the absolutely absurd number of folks they could add to this disaster of a shared calendar.

Noah shook his head, busying himself with pulling out a handful of holiday cushions from the bag, and James decided that was the best course of action.

“If you put me in anymore fucking group chats,” Leon growled, and Aspen waved their hand in the air.

“Group calendars, Leon, not group chats.”

“That’s even worse! Then I’m going to get notifications out the ass about people I don’t even know–”

“Yet!” Aspen said, grinning concerningly wide. “You don’t know them yet!”

“Do you want help putting these in vacuum bags?” Noah asked, his smile small but genuine as he ignored their partners.

“I can find the vacuum,” Charlie offered, rising from the couch with surprising grace given his height and bulk.

He took Purrsephone with him into the office, and James let him go, even though he was pretty sure the vacuum was in their walk-in closet in the bedroom.

“Just admit it, your life is so much fuller now,” Aspen said, skipping over to Leon’s side.

“It’s definitely louder,” Leon said, negating his point rather thoroughly by loudly ripping one of the box flaps down the middle.

“Who doesn’t love a bit of noise?” Aspen said, nuzzling their face into Yarmen’s belly until he gave another happy yowl.

“I’m pretty sure Charlie⁠—”

“Loves me, isn’t that right?” Aspen said, directing the question at the slightly ajar office door.

A soft grunt could be heard from inside, and Aspen beamed. “And don’t even try to say James and Noah mind. They chose you and me as life partners, so you know they love it, too.”

That ball started to vibrate in James’ belly. It shimmied and shook so much it started to glow with warmth. He met Leon’s gaze and saw that same warmth there.

“Grudgingly,” Noah said as he walked past Aspen, narrowly dodging their hand as they tried to tickle his side.

“With my whole heart,” James said, also dodging the sappy sweet look Leon threw his way.

There would be time for that later. Right now, he needed to hunt down a vacuum cleaner and finish settling into his new home.

Epilogue

LEON

Two Years Later

They had been waiting for seventeen goddamn minutes, and Leon was getting antsy. James also didn’t seem to appreciate the wait, squirming on the horrible chair next to Leon like he had ants in his pants, as Leon’s dad used to say.