“Are you guys going to stay out there all night?”Tean asked from the back door.Tean’s only surrender to the fact that they’d come home was that he’d taken off his Keens and now stood in the thick wool socks he preferred, and he held a mug between his hands.More tea.Probably, Jem thought with something like despair, his sadness tea.“It’s cold; come in.”
Scipio took off for the back door before Jem could explain that they were totally fine and they were going to keep playing and you’re probably getting a chill, so you can go back inside.So, Jem trudged after the dog, head down.
The kiss on the cheek caught him by surprise.“I’m sorry,” Tean said.“I was in a bad mood.I shouldn’t have talked to you that way.”
Jem tried to catch some glimpse of what lay behind Tean’s serious look.Finally, he said, “I got those onion rings because I’m a people-person.People like me.”
“Gay boys like you.”
“And I like them!I’m so good with gay boys!”
Tean’s bushy eyebrows went up.
“Uh, in a way that’s totally appropriate for, you know, us being in a committed monogamous relationship.”
“Nice save.”
“And dogs deserve to play in fountains.I’m not going to apologize for standing up for what’s right.”
The smile might have been a shadow, the way it bent Tean’s cheek.“I love you.”
“I love you too.Is that chicken noodle soup?”
“Barely.But it’s Lipton’s—”
“The only legit chicken noodle soup.”
“It’s a powder that’s mostly chemicals, Jem.”But before Jem could argue, Tean continued, “And I’m going to make grilled cheese.”With a trace of embarrassment, he added, “We didn’t have American, but I’ve got this bucket of food-storage cheese—”
Jem groaned and started to melt against the doorjamb.Then he caught the look on Tean’s face and said, “What the actual fuck?”
“Swear jar,” Tean said.
“Why are you fucking with my head?”
That same smile bent his cheek a little further.“Weareout of American, which is technically not a cheese and more of a processed cheese product, which means it’s really just a lot of dairy byproducts and emulsifiers—”
“And it’s delicious.Don’t forget that it’s delicious.”
“—so,I DoorDashed some Kraft singles.”
Somehow, Jem’s knees stopped melting.He dragged himself up a little.He wasn’tquiteready to hope yet.“Even though you hate DoorDash.”
Tean nodded.
“Even though DoorDash drastically increases carbon emissions and single-use packaging, with the only benefit being a minor increase in convenience for people who are too lazy to actually do things themselves.”
Tean nodded again.
“And even though DoorDash is the quintessential example of a tech bro innovation that fixes a problem that wasn’t really a problem, and it’s just a money grab by the rich that creates another low-paying job that traps people in the gig economy.”
“Even though,” Tean said.
“How can I love you this much?”Jem said, looping his arms around Tean’s neck.“I feel like I’m going to explode.”
Tean accepted alotof kisses before he finally said, “You’re going to spill my soup.”
Jemdidlove Tean so much that he honestly felt like there wasn’t enough room for all those feelings inside him.But he still put himself in charge of the grilled cheese sandwiches when it came time to cook, mostly because Tean was of the opinion thatgrilledcould mean anything from a few specks of color all the way to the same level of incineration as Satan’s asshole.
