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“Then we give you time,” I reply. “There is no rush. Every day, when we get up and eat and talk and love and fuck, we are making the tiny choices that all add up to this thing we call life.”

Humming, Aleks steps back, straightening to his full height. His smile is soft and so, so full of care as he looks down at me. “Where’d you get so wise?” he asks, sparkling with humor.

“It comes with the gray hairs.”

Aleks laughs, the sound loud and echoing in the small space. “What about you? What do you want to do with your life?”

It is something I have been thinking about ever since I stood up on the podium with Aleks’ hand in mine, the weight of a medal—a medal I had won—resting on my chest.

What do I want to do with my life?

“Right now, more than anything, I want to learn about what life looks like with you,” I begin. “Being here together has been a dream, but I am the most excited about mundane, uneventful days. I want to know how you relax in your own space, and see what you cook for yourself.”

“Um, I am a notoriously terrible cook,” Aleks says, even as his eyes go soft and his lips curve in a self-deprecating smile. “Damian says I need to use more spices.”

I reach a hand out, trailing my fingers up the thin line of dark hair below his navel. “Something for us to work on, then.”

“I’ve been told I’m a stubborn pain in the ass. You might get tired of me.”

He tosses the words out between us like a joke, but there, hovering under the surface, is uncertainty. It is small, barely noticeable through the waves of reassuring mate mine Daddy Javi.

His jaw fits perfectly in my palms, and I pull his face down until the tip of his nose presses against mine. “Aleks,” I say. “Aleks, my love. Do you understand how much I feel for you?”

I hear his sharp inhale.

“Sireno. Desde el primer momento en que comprendí quién eras realmente, todo en mi mundo cambió. Los huesos de mi pecho se han reorganizado para hacer espacio para tu alma y que pueda estar junto a la mía donde pertenece. He pasado la mayor parte de mi vida buscando un hogar, y finalmente, estoy aquí. Mi hogar es donde estás.”

It is easier to speak of love in my native tongue. I know Aleks understands, but I watch his eyes carefully as the meaning behind my words sinks in. Sireno. Since the first moment when I realized who you really are, everything about my world has changed. My bones are reorganized to make space in my chest for your soul, so it can be in its rightful place beside mine. I have spent most of my life searching for a home, and finally, I am here. My home is where you are.

“Javi,” he whispers, his voice thick.

“I am here, Aleks.”

—Are you sure this is real?

—Do you hear my heart? Do you feel my skin?

—Yes.

—Then yes, boy. It is all real.

Aleks buries his face into the side of my neck, and I hold him close. My chest is warm and full of every feeling my mate is not ready to put into words. For all the talking Aleks does, I have already learned he is more likely to show me the depths of his feelings with his actions than put them into words.

I know he cares. I know he mirrors my curiosity and desire to understand every tiny piece of him. I know a piece of my soul sits beside his heart, safe and protected inside his beautiful, scarred chest.

“I’m happy.” Aleks’ voice is cool on my skin. “I’m so, so happy.”

“Me too, sireno.”

“Can I wash your hair?”

A lazy, contented smile spreads across my face, and I breathe out, emptying my lungs. Home. I am home, here in this shower, with a man I never would have sought out if the Fates had not put me in his path again. Here, with him, I am exactly where I am supposed to be.

“Please,” I respond, pressing a quick kiss to his cool, wet mouth.

He grabs my shoulders and turns us so my back is to the spray. “Now lean your head back, Daddy. We’ve got to get all pretty before we go out to celebrate.”

I comply, tilting my head back and sighing as Aleks’ long, webbed fingers trail through my hair.