Page 27 of Habibi: Always and Forever

TENDER

EMMETT

L eaning back in his chair, he smiled as he heard the front door open and shut. It was accompanied by the lamp on his desk flashing twice in quick succession. That was the latest upgrade they’d installed in the house for Miles.

Emmett had started realizing his new lover was jumpy, especially when he was unaware that people were coming and going. It was an easy fix, of course. A single afternoon, two tech installers, and then showing Miles how it worked.

He was still overwhelmed every time Emmett or Cosimo did little things for him. Nearly a year and a half had gone by of him living under their roof, under the now-familiar weight of their love, and he still didn’t always feel like he deserved it.

Of course, Emmett now understood why. The moment everything with Miles had become real and solid, he’d done a deep dive into psychology articles and books and papers about what it was like for people who’d grown up like Miles.

He would never truly understand what it was like to be him, but now he knew how far the roots of his trauma went.

He understood the way they branched out under his skin and wrapped around his insides.

He and Cosimo knew better how to navigate through them and soothe him when he was feeling his worst.

Glancing over at the digital photo frame Miles had given Emmett for his birthday, he watched the images flicker past a few Miles wasn’t in, and then their first together.

It was an awkwardly angled selfie of them on the beach.

Cosimo had taken it because he had the longest arms. Miles was squished between them, eyes closed, a grin on his face, lit up from the inside in a way that was more common now, but had been so rare back then.

And the look on Emmett’s face? He was unused to seeing his own contentment like that.

With a sigh, he pushed away from his desk when he realized he hadn’t heard voices. Outside the office, he could just make out things rustling around—something like a grocery bag, maybe. Items thudding on the kitchen table.

Footsteps across the floor.

But no voices.

There were a few possible reasons for it. He only hoped it wasn’t because Cosimo had slipped into a bad mood and had taken it out on their lover.

He reached the kitchen and no, that was not the case. They were moving around each other like a subtle, easy dance—Cosimo laying out ingredients for dinner, Miles helping where he could. The younger man was not wearing his processors, and they were clearly doing all of this voice-off.

Emmett watched a moment more before stomping his foot on the floor. Miles jumped and turned, offering a sheepish smile as his cheeks pinked from being startled.

“Sorry,” he signed quickly.

Emmett tilted his head to the side and lifted a brow.

“Sorry, Daddy.” It was a sign Miles had created for Emmett. Usually he used the sign name Emmett had been given by his daughter’s Deaf mentor when she was little, but Miles had wanted something else too. Something that was just his. Something that represented who they were to each other.

“Good boy,” he signed back. He didn’t use the sign for ‘boy’ either. He used the sign for precious, because that’s what Miles was to him. Precious. Perfect.

His .

His gaze flickered over to Cosimo who had his hip leaning against the counter.

He winked at Emmett, making his insides squirm with want.

He hadn’t seen his husband much these days.

Cosimo lost another one of the doctors in their practice which meant assuming a third of her patients and what felt like ten times the workload.

Emmett would never begrudge him that, but he was starting to feel a little needy. He’d become profoundly aware over the last year and a half that just because he had Miles now didn’t mean he wanted Cosimo less.

In fact, he wanted him more. Miles didn’t fill some sort of hole that Cosimo was leaving behind. He fit in his own spaces. So Emmett missed his husband like a limb when he wasn’t around as much.

Pinching his thumb to his forefinger, he pressed them to the front of his throat and made a turning motion like he was twisting a lock. “Voice off?”

Miles shrugged and bit his lip. His hands were still at his sides.

Cosimo sighed and waved his hand to make sure that he had both Emmett’s and Miles’s attention. “Miles had a rough test. Failed.”

Miles’s cheeks pinked as Emmett took a step closer.

Then another. It wasn’t long before nearly all the distance between them was erased by his strides.

There was just enough space between them to sign.

No room for anything else without touching.

He touched Miles’s chin to grab his attention. “What happened?”

Miles licked his lips, but his hands remained still for a while. Emmett knew he was working through it. He’d accepted the private ASL tutor during the summer, but the lessons were infrequent because once Miles settled in—once he felt stable and safe—he took his summer teaching job.

Emmett would never make Miles feel bad for prioritizing his education, and he didn’t bring up ASL classes again until Miles successfully defended his dissertation, then walked across the stage with honors.

Oliver, Victor, Juno, and Piper were there to cheer him on.

But then things settled down. There were no open positions for Miles at the university, and the community college had offered him a contract, but it wasn’t going to start until next spring. So he was at home for two full semesters.

Which meant he had time to start his formal language learning.

But Emmett could see how it was weighing on him. Miles had a knack for languages, but he did not have a knack for dealing with pressure, and Emmett knew that was partially his fault. He’d put a little too much weight on Miles learning to sign.

It was only to make his life better, but he realized his mistake now that his sweet, precious lover was standing in front of him, hands trembling, shame written all over his face.

“Do you want to talk?” Emmett asked, indicating his voice.

Miles quickly shook his head. “I choked.” He spelled the last word. “I’m a doctor and somehow every single sign went out of my head.”

Emmett tried not to smile. He knew his lover was in pain. But even without formal learning, Miles still had all the mannerisms of someone who grew up with ASL. He was so, so expressive.

Glancing at Cosimo, he hummed in thought, then nodded. “Okay.”

Miles’s brows flew up. “OK?”

“Okay. We can make it up to you tonight.”

Miles quickly started to shake his head. “I’m tired.”

Laughing, Emmett took him by the chin and kissed him thoroughly. “I know,” he signed when he pulled back. “Trust me. It will be fun.”

Miles sucked in a breath, his gaze darting down at Emmett’s crotch, then over at Cosimo’s.

“Exactly,” Cosimo answered. Emmett hadn’t shared his plan, but his husband was never one to be slow when it came to Emmett’s scheming.

Swallowing heavily, Miles took a breath, then nodded his fist. “Yes. Okay. Thank you, Daddy.”

Pressing the three-fingered ILY sign to Miles’s heart, Emmett kissed him one more time. “Why don’t you start dinner. Cosimo will join you in a minute.”

It took Miles a second to work through all the signs, but eventually he nodded, then walked to the table and began to unpack the groceries.

When Emmett left the room, he could feel Cosimo at his heels.

“Voice on for this?” Cosimo asked when they were in the hallway.

“Yes. Now, first,” Emmett yanked Cosimo in by his belt loops and kissed the absolute breath out of him. It lingered and lingered, getting hotter and heavier until Cosimo broke away with a soft gasp.

“What was that for?”

“I’ve been missing you so much,” Emmett told him.

Cosimo looked sad. “I know. I’m so sorry. I?—”

“No. You have nothing to apologize for. I just need you to know that I love you, and I miss you when you’re not here.”

Cosimo softened, like maybe that had been on his mind. Like maybe he’d been worried. “I love you.”

“Second, I think we should give Miles the ring tonight.”

Cosimo looked stunned. They’d picked out the ring months ago. Cosimo had been the one to design it, a sort of combination of both their wedding bands—Emmett with his rose gold, and Cosimo with the matte black titanium with rose gold inside that rested against his skin.

He’d spent weeks agonizing about what would fit Miles best, and eventually he came up with a design to send to their jeweler.

The first time Emmett set eyes on it, he knew it was perfect. Rose gold with a thick band of crushed, polished onyx in the center. He’d laid all three rings together and yeah. It was perfect.

The original plan had been to give it to him on their anniversary, but none of them could agree on when the exact date their anniversary fell, and eventually, Emmett got frustrated and hit pause.

He and Cosimo brought it up a few times over the last couple of months, but nothing seemed right.

“Why now?” Cosimo asked.

“Because I think part of the reason he bombed so hard is that he feels like he still has to impress us in order for us to keep him.”

Cosimo let out a heavy breath. “Yeah. I kind of got that impression.”

“We need him to know that’s not true. That he’s ours. That he could fail or succeed at anything, and we aren’t going anywhere.”

Cosimo’s lips turned up, just a little, right at the corners. For him, it was a massive grin. “I love you,” he murmured again.

Emmett laughed. “You could say it louder right now. He won’t know we’re right here.”

Cosimo looked at him for a beat, then said, “Go get the ring, put it in the nightstand, and prep the bedroom. I’ll help with dinner.”

Emmett didn’t always take commands from his husband. In fact, it was more rare than all eight planets aligning. But in that moment, he loved the idea of Cosimo taking some of the charge. “How do you want to be tonight?” he asked, taking a single step back.