Page 12

Shane

T wo years later, I was a regular at game nights. They weren’t always the same, held on weekend nights or devolving into kinky sex, but Miles was next to me for all of them. This one was a Sunday Brunch, and I had a surprise I’d worked on for months making me antsy.

“Are we playing a card game this week?” Miles asked July, who sat on his other side, between nibbles on a quiche Shepherd or Ant made.

“Hold your horses. We’re visiting first,” Q tutted. He had glitter in his beard, likely from Cielo, which dampened some of his Daddy gravitas. “Some of us were out late last night.”

Roman, Ant, and Cielo raised their hands with mischievous grins on their faces. I’d heard about Cielo’s penchant for glitter and I could imagine Ant and Roman helping them brat at X Club with the Daddies and Handlers getting the brunt of it before doling out punishments. Miles and I visited a few times a year, and even tried out some rope classes. I didn’t want to dominate him, but we both enjoyed trying new things.

“Horses?” Ash snorted, bouncing his baby girl, Mimi, on his knee. “How old are you, a hundred?”

“Hey, who are you calling old?” Jefferson called from the kitchen area where he was fixing a sippy cup for the son, Carter. “Q and A are only a few years older than I am.”

“I know,” Ash smirked and bopped Mimi’s nose. She was adorable, with a polka-dot bow to match her dress. Almost made me want one of my own, but Miles and I were happy being dog dads to our two rescues.

Shepherd sat on the arm of the long couch next to Roman and July, shaking out the Sunday newspaper with reading glasses perched on his nose.

“If anyone is a senior citizen,” Roman teased, snagging the newspaper and getting a swat to the thigh for his behavior before.

“I want to see something,” Cielo plopped down to sit half on July and half on Roman, and I loved how puppy-like the behavior was.

Maybe Miles and I could try some pet-play? They’d looked adorable in cat ears at the themed graduation party Ant threw for Maxx.

Miles leaned away from me to look at why Cielo was flipping pages, “What are you looking for?”

“Your comic strip this week,” Cielo said flippantly, like they weren’t in on my planning. Cielo should talk to our friend Marcos about acting in one of his plays, because you wouldn’t know they were leading my lover to something bigger. “Maybe Big’s magic jizz makes another appearance.”

“Oh, we don’t have to look at that,” Miles grumbled, not shy, but also not one to want public praise. Milo’s Adventures had been picked up by a few online papers and magazines, plus he had millions of followers online.

“Let’s explain to the younger folx where the comics section is,” A piped up, advancing on the subs with Q beside him. Before they could snag the paper, which only Cielo, Q, and A knew contained my secret, Cielo opened the paper to the right page.

Cielo grinned, having already seen what I put there, and pointed Milo’s Adventures out to the others. July’s eyes widened he read before he gasped and Roman clapped with glee.

Miles was confused, because their reactions didn’t match his expectations. “I had a silly one planned.”

The newspaper worked with me to push his submission for the week, and I did the words, using parts of his old panels so they fit. Cielo and the paper’s digital department made sure it didn’t look like crap.

Miles bent around to look at the open paper, hiding his face from my view. I stood up so Ant and Maxx could sit and read the comic taking up the top half of the page instead of the usual smaller strip.

I knew what they would see: Miles’ first scenes of us as Milo and Big. Except I put the panels in reverse order without the farewell.

The first panel featured Milo in a medieval prince costume, looking morosely at a row of dildos with thoughts of his problems over his head, “If only I could find the dick to fit my hole…” The box right after it had Big looking sad, “I’ll never find someone to love me and my giant dick…”

While it had been embarrassing to explain to my parents what Milo did for a living and have my mom remember the first one I’d featured in, my dad had only laughed and said my apple didn’t fall far from his tree with a wink. My mom had blushed and I’d made excuses for Miles and I to leave early. In the end, they loved him, and we got over the awkwardness.

In the next part, Miles’ character bent over, his crown askew with hearts around his head, with my character grinning behind him while exclaiming, “It’s a perfect fit!” I knew he hadn’t had my dick in his hole yet when he wrote the strip, but I was glad it came true.

Kneeling behind the paper, I knew they would see Milo’s heart eyes for Big, who stood over him while both had a shared thought bubble, “This is love!”

The last panel was my altered one, to complete our happily ever after. One with my character kneeling in front of Miles’, but instead of a dildo or dick, Big held a cartoonish ring

The room went quiet. When the paper lowered to reveal Miles and our friends, he found me kneeling with a simple band held aloft.

“Miles, my prince,” I started, pausing for him to take it all in.

Roman coughed, “Size queen,” and we all laughed, breaking the tension.

Miles’ lashes were wet with unshed tears as he stood. With my height, I only had to lift my head to look at his multi-colored eyes, his rainbow hair looking like he just rolled out of our bed, and his clothes androgynous. Just the way I liked them.

“From the day we met, you knew I was the perfect fit for you,” a few chuckles filtered in, but I only had eyes for my love. “After three years of loving you, I know you’re the perfect fit for the rest of my life.”

Miles nodded, but didn’t seem able to form words for once. That worked for me, since I had a question to ask he’d already read in the Sunday paper.

“Will you marry me?”

He croaked on a half-sob, launching himself into my arms to join me on the floor. He started kissing me all over my face when I realized he jostled the ring free.

“Crap, the ring,” I called out, and saw the crowd of our smiling and grinning friends switch to panicked as they hopped up to find the ring.

“Found it!” Ash called out, and he walked over to me. “No, Mimi, that’s not a teething ring. Sorry if it has some baby slobber.”

“Don’t care, put it on me,” Miles held his hand out for me to slip it on his left ring finger.

“You never answered my question, love ko?” I reminded Miles, calling him mine in Tagalog.

“Oh? Yes!”

Miles barely got the word out before I crushed his lips with mine, deepening it until the cheers and back pats brought us back to the room full of people ready to celebrate with us. We weren’t actually playing any games—this was our engagement party.

“That’s going in Milo’s Adventures , isn’t it?” I asked, pointing to the damp ring on his finger.

“Absolutely,” Miles nodded, a grin lighting up the face I loved. “It will fit just right.”