“So what gets you through all of this shit? Because, D, I need some help. I keep looking for them, man. I know they’re not coming back. Not like you.”
“No, not like me.” Damie’s smile edged toward bitter for a second, and Miki inched closer to give him a quick hug. Damie returned it, brief but hard, muttering into Miki’s ear. “Their families gave a shit about them. Mine just tried to murder me twice.”
He hugged tighter, drawing Damie in. “I didn’t.”
“Nah, you’re good.” Damien pulled back and cupped Miki’s face, staring with his bright, shiny blue eyes. He bent forward, touching his forehead to Miki’s, and whispered, “You are my best and only family.”
“There’s Sionn,” Miki teased and reached for another fry. Damie reached out to slap his fingers, but he was too quick. “And Kane. Sort of. They count. Right?”
“And Brigid.” Both of them made a face, and Damie laughed. “She’s not that bad. Just very—”
“Loud. Like, her personality is loud. You can hear her sleep.” Miki wrinkled his nose. “Dude, even her hair is loud.”
“Man, she’d shiv a bitch if anyone hurt you,” Damie reminded him, and Miki murmured in agreement. “She loves us. Even if she’s kind of scary.”
“Scary. Yeah, let’s go with that.” Miki snorted. “Families—I don’t know how to deal with them, man. Not all of that stuff. It’s like today. I don’t know what I’m doing here with this Valentine’s Day shit. Suppose I fuck it all up?”
“The only way you could fuck it all up is if you tell Kane to get the hell out of your life.” Damien’s laughter exploded out of him when Miki shot him a horrified look. “See? You’re not going to fuck it up. And that’s why I’m kind of glad I died there for a bit. It made you reach out to Kane. If I hadn’t been off fake pining for the fjords, you guys never would have hooked up.”
“So now you’re taking credit for me and Kane?” Miki shoved his friend on the shoulder, then retrieved his food from the bench. “Fuck, the fries are cold.”
“Here. Vinegar them up. It’ll be all good,” Damie said, tossing Miki a few malt vinegar packets. “And yeah, I love you. You know I do, but you weren’t exactly looking to enter into holy boyfriend land before all of that shit went down.”
“I wasn’t looking for it when Kane came around the first time,” he mumbled as he fought to open a packet with his teeth.
“Give me that. It looks like it’s been gnawed on by the world’s shittiest beaver.” Miki handed Damie the vinegar packets. As he tore them open one by one, Damie sprinkled the pungent liquid over the other man’s fries. “Here. And yeah, you might not have been looking, but there he was. It’s cute how you two love each other.”
“Says the guy who coos at Sionn in the kitchen?” Miki side-eyed his friend. “You guys are like a step away from passing each other notes in crayon.”
“More you. Less me,” Damien ordered. “Listen to me, dude. You and Kane. You’re solid. He loves the fuck out of you—don’t give me that look. You don’t think I can’t hear you guys sometimes. There’s only so much noise-dampening rubber strips you can use on a door. I’m going to put a fridge or something up in our room so I don’t have to come down to Fuck Fest 2000 in the middle of the night when I want some water.”
“Is there a point you’re getting to here, or is it just a ‘fuck with Miki’ kind of conversation?”
“The point is, Sinjun, you needed me to be dead for a little bit. So you could love the guy you found. Well, the one who found you. If I’d been around, you wouldn’t have crossed that line. Not because we’re fuck buddies or anything, but because we’re good together. We don’t need anyone else around. Being apart kind of showed both of us that there’s room in our lives for different kinds of love. Even the kind of love Donal gives you, because, shit, you wouldn’t have gone near anyone like him a couple of years ago.”
“I definitely don’t think about Donal the way I think about Kane.” Try as he might, Miki couldn’t shake the idea of sharing a bed with Donal. “Dude, I’m gonna have to bleach my brain. That’s kind of my… shit, Donal!”
“He’s cool, and he takes care of us. Probably because we’re with Sionn and Kane, but still, he’s fucking cool.” Damien matched Miki’s grin. “Thing is, without them, we wouldn’t have the Morgan family. Or each other, really. So you reaching out to love Kane—that kind of brought us back together.”
“I was a fucking mess without you, D,” Miki confessed in a soft whisper.
“Dude, you’re a fucking mess with me too.” Damien hooked his hand around the back of Miki’s head and shook him gently. “The question is, what are we going to do about all of it?”