Page 263 of For the Fans

Avi Vega is “in a relationship” with Twizzlers

His_Baby: What a fool…

Backwardz_Avi: My alien came back to Earth!

Color me bat-shit crazy. Because I’m mad, bonkers, foolishly in love right now.

My man isback, and I’m bouncing in excitement to show him what I’ve been working on while he was gone.I mean, other than the obsessive sketches.

Honestly, I’m kind of surprised that he loves to sketches as much as he apparently does. If you hung them all up on one wall, it would look like the kind of psycho-stalker shrine lunatics make for celebrities whose bushes they jerk off in.

Who knows, maybe Iamthat level of obsessed with Kyran. But he seems to think it’s endearing, so we’ll just go with that.

After we showered, which took much longer than it should have because we couldn’t seem to keep our mouths away from each other’s dicks, I packed my stepbrother boyfriend into an Uber and brought him to Davis Square in Somerville. We heldhands the entire ride, making heart eyes at each other… It was sickeningly sweet, and I’m living for it.

I know things with Kyran won’t always be as perfect as they are right now. We still haven’t really talked about the issues that made him leave in the first place. But I can’t deny the fact that he seems happier than I’ve ever seen him before. I recognize the Kyran I’m with right now… From the little glimpses I would get when we were alone together, like at the drive-in or the Rose Bowl after-party, when he kissed me in front of everyone.

And I know now thatthisis the real Kyran. Smiling and laughing, not lashing out at me because of his own insecurities, or forcing himself to deny what makes him happy.

The real Kyran seems infinitely more centered, peaceful, and joyous. I’m not so naïve as to think he’ll always be like this. After all, he suffered something so traumatic, it makes all the sense in the world that he’d have a second personality. Like a shield up to protect him from ever having to relive his pain.

But honestly, I fell in love with all the versions of him. I just want every shade of Kyran Harbor, every day, in whatever way he happens to be feeling.

Walking around the corner, our fingers still entwined, I murmur, “Alright… Close your eyes.”

“Oh, so it’s one ofthosesurprises?” He smirks at me.

“Yes, dear,” I hum, and he chuckles. “Close your damn eyes or I’ll be forced to cover them.”

He squints at me. “You’re being pretty bossy right now. I’d like a refund.”

“And you’ve got jokes all of a sudden,” I tease, and he laughs some more. “It almost seems like we body-swapped while you were away.”

“Mmm… I wanna be in your body,” he rumbles, yanking me to him by one of my belt loops.

“You’re being entirely too fresh right now.” My lashes flutter at the feel of his lips on my neck. “I’m trying to show you something important.”

He whines with his hands all over me. “I’m sorry… I just missed you so much. I didn’t touch you for weeks when all I wanted in the world was to do it. I have to make up for lost time.”

“Trust me, I know the feeling, superstar,” I breathe, feeling him smile on my ear.

“I love that you still call me that,” he murmurs, and I chuckle. “It reminds me of you driving me crazy using all my shampoo when we shared a bathroom.”

“Okay, first of all, that wasmyshampoo…”

He gasps. “You’re fucking nuts!”

“Am not! I bought it for myself!”

“Avi, no offense, but you were baked more often than not. I’ve never known you to buy your own shampoo. You just steal it from everyone else.” He stares at me pointedly.

My gaze narrows while I try to think back onanyinstance when I went into a store and purchased shampoo. But I’m coming up blank.

“Fine… You might be right,” I grumble, and his lips curl. “But this is all irrelevant. I’m gonna be stealing your shampoo for the foreseeable future, so you better get used to it.”

He blinks at me, biting his lip to contain an obvious grin. “Is that your way of saying you want to live with me again?”

My heart jumps against my ribs.No shit, I want to live with him. Being with him every day sounds like a sex-dream come true. But I wasn’t sure it was something he wanted yet…