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Leaves crunched under his boots,and Dmitri appreciated Raphael’s power chair more than ever because they could navigate through the heavy winter market crowds and hold hands. A lot of the people around weren’t townies, which meant they got a lot of stares, but Dmitri had stopped giving a single shit about that once he and Raphael went public.
It was a week after finals, and Dmitri was going to enjoy the next few weeks—holidays with his family, which was easier now that Jayden and Raphael had smoothed over their tension from Jayden’s struggle to accept the relationship. Jayden had eventually hunted Dmitri down and told him he was wrestling with guilt for his failure as a parent figure for Dmitri, and Dmitri simply hugged him and told him he didn’t regret a thing.
It was nice. It was almost like a fairy tale. The evil beast had been slain, the town was safe again, and Dmitri had gotten his prince.
Raphael’s hand tightened on his, and Dmitri glanced down. “I need to make a stop.”
“For my surprise?” Dmitri wheedled.
Raphael rolled his eyes. “Go make yourself useful and bother Talia and Adam.”
Dmitri gave a fake pout, but in reality, he was happy to soak up every bit of that attention. Raphael spoiled him, trying to make up for their time apart when he had put a canyon of distance between them. Raphael had been going on about wanting to celebrate Dmitri’s first completed semester, and it felt a little absurd to celebrate something so small, but he felt cherished.
He leaned down, kissing Raphael gently before he wandered off, and he tugged his coat around him tighter as he passed byFitz’s Knitz. The firefighter was in a big coat, standing with his arms wrapped around Antoine as they huddled against the chilly air. Dmitri’s stomach went soft, but lacked the former envy he always felt when watching the people around him slip deeper into love.
“Cold?” Fitz asked, waving a scarf at him.
Dmitri had a rainbow collection of Fitz’s badly cobbled together knits, but he never turned one down, and tonight was no different. He plucked it from his grasp and wound it around his neck, sighing at the warmth.
“I’m pretty sure only you and my brother actually love these things, and he’s blind so he has an excuse,” Antoine muttered.
Dmitri grinned at him. “They’re soft.”
“That’s what Marcel said,” Fitz replied with a grin.
Dmitri winked, then made his way around the corner to the booth at the end of the lane with a vast array of baked goods. Wilder and Adam had eventually teamed up—mostly to save space—so everyone who wanted sweets could come to the same place. Wilder was nowhere to be found, but Talia was on her knees, fixing one of the table legs, and Adam was muttering something from behind his thick scarf and gesturing with his hands like he was irritated.
“Can I help?” Dmitri offered as he approached.
Talia looked up, then rolled her eyes. “Please tell me this asshole didn’t call you.”
“I didn’t, but I should have,” Adam snarled. He threw his hands up and walked off, and Talia sighed before shoving one of the resort matchbooks under the leg and giving the table a push. It wobbled, but only a little, and Talia rose, swiping her hands on her wet jeans.
“I got down in the fucking shitty mud for him,” Talia muttered.
Dmitri cocked his head to the side. “You must really love him.”
Talia’s glower was withering, but Dmitri knew she didn’t mean it. Talia and Adam were in love—deeper than most people would feel in a lifetime. He didn’t understand it before, but everything made a lot more sense once things with Raphael had fallen together.
“Why are you over here bothering me?” Talia asked as she went back around the table.
Dmitri didn’t wait for an invite, instead following her and took a seat in the chair that was closest to the little space heater. He accepted the powdered doughnut Talia handed off, resting it on his thigh as he tugged one of his gloves off with his teeth.
“Raphael’s up to something,” he said when his mouth was free. “He told me to see if you guys needed help.”
Talia rolled her eyes again as she gathered her hair into a bun at the nape of her neck. “If he was anything like Adam, I’d be worried, but he’s not.”
Dmitri couldn’t help his small laugh as he bit into the side of the doughnut. The cream inside was boozy and warm, and he licked some off his finger before staring out into the dwindling crowd. “Why do these people show up every year? It’s so crowded out here.”
“Holiday spirit?” Talia asked. She paused to sell a couple bags of Adam’s hamantaschen to a couple, then tucked the cash away in the lock box. “Honestly, I don’t care. Adam wants to re-do the counters at home, and he’s refusing to take my money like I don’t have enough to spare.”
Dmitri finished his pastry, then tossed the napkin in the trash by Talia’s leg. “I get where he’s coming from. It would be easy to let Raphael pay my stupid cut off notices from the utility companies, but…I don’t know. I’d let him if it meant sleeping in the cold, but I like knowing my hard work is worth something.”
Talia looked at him a long while, then threw up her hands and sighed. “You ruin everything.”
“And you like me anyway,” Dmitri pointed out with a small grin.
Talia grimaced, but she pulled up a chair and sat close to her friend. “How, uh…you know. Are things?”
