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“Hell no,” Dad grunts. Ben comes into the room, and I want to slap my family when they all turn to look at him. He stops and glances around, then walks up to the bed slowly.

“How’re you feeling,osi– I mean…uhh…Theo…” His cheeks redden, but I just reach out and grab his hand.

“I told them. It’s ok,” I murmur. A crease appears between his eyebrows, and he seems anxious, but I squeeze his fingers and give Molly a pointed look.

“Mom, Dad, why don’t you go with Tabby and get some food downstairs?” she says, motioning toward the door. Tabby takes the hint too and starts talking about how hungry she is as she comes to give me a hug.

“Oh, my friend Becca made this for you,” she says, slipping a colorful bracelet off her wrist and putting it on mine. The beads all have little cats and dogs on them, framing the word HERO. “Ben has a matching one.” He smiles and holds his wrist up, then Tabby kisses me on the cheek and bounces out of the room with my parents in tow. When they’re gone, Molly lets out a loud sigh.

“You are so fucking dramatic, you know that?” she chides, sinking into the chair beside me. “You pull some stunt like that and then immediately come out to our Catholic parents when you wake up?”

“You wanted me to tell them!” I cough.

“They were gonna find out sooner or later!” she insists. “Anyway, I hope the two of you are ready for a circus.”

“Why?” Ben asks with a frown. “What circus?”

Molly pulls her phone out and swipes a few times, then shows us half a dozen news articles about the shelter fire and the two ‘local heroes’ who saved every single cat and dog inside.

“All of them made it?” I ask, the lump reappearing suddenly in my throat. “Even the kittens?”

“The news stations are having an absolute field day with it. They’ve been calling the hospital constantly asking when they can come and do an interview, so you might want to figure out how you’re gonna playthisif you aren’t ready for everyone else to know.” She motions at our clasped hands. “They also said that, even though the fire started right next to the cat room, there was something keeping the smoke away from them, and something that prevented the explosion from hitting the room. A couple stations called it a miracle, and Mom really latched onto that, especially since…”

She touches my shoulder, where the burn mark is.

“Since what?” I ask. Gently, Ben reaches down and peels back the bandage they’ve laid over top of the wound. It’s shaped like a handprint. Five fingers, and a palm, right over my heart. I look up at Ben and see tears gathering in his eyes.

“Mom thinks it was an angel,” Molly says softly.

“Maybe it was,” I murmur. Ben squeezes my hand hard, and Molly glances between us.

“I’ll let you get some rest,” she says suddenly, standing up. I swear I see her wipe tears from her own face too before she grabs her purse and leaves the room.

“Are you ok?” I ask Ben. “I’m sorry I told them about us without you here, it just…it seemed easier.”

“Nah, it’s fine,” he says, sitting on the edge of the bed. “They took it alright?”

“Well, Dad is afraid of Molly,” I laugh.“Her word is law.”

Ben laughs too, then glances at the door and leans in to kiss me. I melt in his arms, pulling him closer, hoping I never have to let go.

“Howdoyou want to play this?” He pulls away just enough to speak, but keeps one arm around my back and leans his forehead against mine. “I mean…we don’t have to do an interview. We could just say no. Or we can tell them we’re roommates.”

“What would make you comfortable?” I ask him.

He smiles against my lips. “I’m already a local scandal anyway. You’re the hero of the hour, Theo. You went in there to save those animals. I just went in to save you. So,youget to decide how we deal with this. I’ll follow your lead.”

I close my eyes and breathe him in. He stinks, honestly. Smoke and sweat and that weird, too-clean hospital smell, plus whatever ointment they put on his burns. But he’s still Ben. My Ben. The love of my life. I can’t push him into the shadows just because I’m afraid. He deserves more of me than that.

“That interview you did,” I say softly, “at Found Family—when you came out. They asked what people could do to support the kids there, and you said that just being visible and being proud was enough. You said it’s important for the kids to see queer adults being themselves and being happy, so…that’s what I want to do. I want those kids to see you on the news and see that you’re happy now, and that coming out didn’t ruin your life. And…I want everyone to know how much I love you.”

Ben’s warm eyes widen for a second, then his forehead crinkles and he kisses me again. The way he does it makes it feel like it’s the first time, and I suppose, in a way, it is.

Over the next few days, we don’t talk about Annie.

I’m not sure how to, and I don’t think Ben even wants to. Her absence hangs in the air between us like smoke. We can’t change it, and I think if we talk about it, we both might break down. Instead, we talk to the doctors, and we talk to the news stations, and we even talk to Ben’s parents when they show up with his sister, Yelena.

It’s pretty clear that she coerced them into coming, that they would rather have spoken to Ben in private, but Yelena is a force of nature. She might be even scarier than Molly, and she jumpstarts the conversation by introducing me as Ben’s boyfriend. He explains our relationship to his parents, explains what happened at the shelter, and tells them how happy he is, not letting go of my hand once the entire time. They reply to him in Spanish, and I can’t tell if they’re angry or not because their voices are so calm and controlled.