He spun his cup on the table. “I’ve decided to adopt Aiden…if he wants it, of course.”
Jordan cracked a huge grin. “Of course he wants that! He loves you, Dean. And we all love him.”
“Thanks.” Dean smiled. “I’m gonna need your help in getting through all this…the paperwork, meetings, and the construction in the loft.”
Jordan snickered. “Of course. You couldn’t do shit without me. But wait…” He paused with a look of confusion. “What construction?”
Dean cracked a smile. “There’s a huge section of the loft that’s unfinished. I want to build Aiden his own suite.”
Jordan furrowed his brows. “For real? You’ve got more space?”
“Yep.” Dean stood with his cup. “Come on, I’ll show you what I’m thinking.”
***
“When’s Aiden getting here?” Colton asked as he emptied the dishwasher.
“About a half hour.”
“Believe it or not, I’m actually fucking nervous!” Colton leaned back onto the kitchen counter.
Dean stepped in front of him, crowding him against the countertop, and kissed his forehead. “I’m nervous too, but I think he’s gonna be stoked!”
Colton chuckled. “Hell yeah! I mean, we’re awesome! Who wouldn’t want to live with us?”
Dean pressed a gentle kiss on his lips. “True. But we’ll have to be more careful. We can’t just make out or fuck wherever we want after he moves in.”
Colton gasped in mock horror. “Shit. I hadn’t thought of that! I don’t think I like this plan anymore.”
Dean giggled and poked him in the ribs. “Shut it. Everything will be fine, and you’ll have plenty of my cock, whenever you want it.”
A short time later, Aiden arrived with his usual smile and happy bounce in his step.
There were hugs all around.
“You want some food, something to drink?” Dean asked.
“Nah. Not really. Thanks though.” Aiden looked between Dean and Colton. “But this isn’t my normal day to visit. What’s wrong?”
Dean patted his shoulder. “There’s nothing wrong. We do have something important we want to discuss with you though.”
They led Aiden over to the seating area, having Aiden sit on the coffee table, with Dean and Colton on the sofa facing him.
Aiden lost his signature Cheshire-cat grin, and a hint of concern crossed his brow. “Okay, you two are scaring me. What’s going on?”
Dean chuckled. “Sorry. We don’t mean to scare you. And it’s nothing bad. Promise.” Dean inhaled a deep breath and took Aiden’s hand. “Aiden, we both love you very much. I don’t think that comes as any surprise. But lately, we’ve been talking” —he gestured between Colton and himself— “and we feel like we don’t get to see you enough or spend enough time with you. So we were wondering if you might want to live with us? I can get all the adoption paperwork done pretty quickly and you could move all your things here as soon as it's approved.”
For a moment, Aiden looked to Colton, then Dean, with a slightly confused look.
“So…you’ll both be my dad?”
Dean smiled warmly. “If that’s what you want. Yes. But we realize we’re only twelve years older than you. So if that feels weird, having two dads closer to your age, we can do whatever makes you feel comfortable. We can be your dads, big brothers, uncles, whatever feels right for you.” Dean squeezed his hand. “The most important thing is, we love you, and we’ll live here together, as a family. How does that sound?”
There was a brief pause. The silence was killing Dean. He wanted to say something else, make Aiden feel at ease, convince him to say yes, but the deafening silence continued. All hecould hear was his heart beating in his ear. What if he said no? Dean wasn’t sure he could handle that. He wanted Aiden to say something, but he didn’t push, he waited as Aiden processed everything he’d just heard, which was admittedly a lot.
Finally, Aiden’s chest began to heave and his eyes became watery. As the tears began to stream down his face, he hurled himself between Colton and Dean, hugging them both around their necks.
Aiden huffed and sobbed as Dean and Colton rubbed his back. They sat that way for several minutes, Dean and Colton on the sofa, Aiden squeezed between them, sobbing as they rubbed his back.
