Fallon wasn’t sure he believed him. He didn’t think most people craved peanut butter and marshmallow, but Gage attacked the first half of his sandwich like it owed him money, so maybe they really were just meant to be.
As Fallon settled, he stared down at the papers in his hands.
“What’s that?” Gage asked, words sticky with the food.
Fallon touched the notepaper he’d been writing on. “I like Zoa. I like Zoa Rune.”
Gage stared at him.
“I also liked Asher, but he seemed…like he belonged to just you. Like that was a part of your story you needed to keep. But I like the idea of Mango being our little hero.”
Gage swallowed heavily. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“Why Rune?”
Fallon took a moment to answer. “Because that was the name I’d chosen for the character I was going to play the nightyou took me to the game shop.” He twisted his fingers together over the paper. “Rune was a drow rogue who was raised by elves. He never felt like he belonged, no matter how much his family tried to show him he did. I thought—if the campaign went well—he’d find his family there too.”
“Only it was ruined.”
Fallon laughed, tilting his head up to look at Gage. “Nothing was ruined. That was the night you kissed me. The night I asked you for what I wanted.”
Gage shifted closer to him. “The night I fell for you.”
Fallon reached down and picked up the envelope. “The night this happened.”
Sucking in a breath, Gage stared at it. “I wasn’t going to open it until after Mango—Zoa—was here.”
“I know. But…” Fallon bit his lip. “I think I need to know. If you don’t want to look, I won’t tell you. But I want to prepare for how it’ll make me feel before Zoa’s here.” It was strange to have a name for the baby. It felt heavier. More real. More…intense.
But he liked it.
Gage nodded, then turned his head away. “If I feel disappointed that the results are not my DNA, please don’t take it personally, okay? I love Zoa. Zoa is mine. But I don’t know. I got my hopes up.”
“Me too,” Fallon whispered. He closed his eyes as he tore at the seal, then pulled the paper out. He didn’t bother reading all the bullshit breakdowns of everything. His eyes immediately went to the blue box at the bottom of the page, and his heart leapt into his throat.
He blinked to make sure it was real.
Probability 99.9%, with a whole lot of other nines after it.
“It’s you,” he whispered.
Gage’s head whipped to the side, and then he took the paper with shaking hands and read it, then looked up at Fallon, thenread it again. It fluttered down into his lap, and he scrubbed his hands over his face.
Fallon waited for something. Anything. Some sign that Gage was feeling any emotion.
“I thought I’d cry,” Gage said very quietly.
Fallon licked his lips as he peered over just to make sure one more time. To ensure the universe wasn’t playing some cosmic joke on them. “Maybe we should give Zoa ‘Kismet’ for a middle name. Because this isn’t luck. This can’t be luck. It has to be fate. This shouldn’t have happened.”
“But it did,” Gage said, his voice barely a whisper. “Do you regret?—”
“Please don’t ask me that. It hurts my feelings,” Fallon said. “You know I would choose you a thousand times. A billion times. I will always choose you.”
Gage nodded. “Sorry. I think I’m feeling insecure, and I wasn’t expecting it. I…” He trailed off, tracing his finger around the number. “I want to wait before we tell everyone. I want to wait until Zoa is here. I want them all to love our baby before they know the truth.”
“They already do, I think,” Fallon murmured. Emotions were rising in him now. He always felt them a bit more delayed than other people, but that wasn’t a bad thing. He always felt them so fucking strongly. “Gage.” He took a breath. “I need you to hold me right now.”
