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Arlo tried to say something back but laughed harder. Bren paused the song to give himself an excuse to stop watching the wreckage of his attempt, and when he turned back around, Arlo was on his feet. He took a step forwards, and with more grace than Bren had managed, peeled his own shirt off.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to laugh.” Arlo’s arms pulled them close together and the steady beat of his heart thudded against Bren’s chest. “I just . . . didn’t know you had such a passion for dancing. You know Peacock has a class for that, right?”

“Yeah? You’ll have to message me about it once I’m back in Ireland,” Bren said, pulling away until he met resistance from Arlo’s arms.

They met in a kiss that might have lasted days—Bren couldn’t be sure. When they came up for air, Arlo was giving him a look Bren had only seen once before. But no sooner had they fallen onto the bed than there was a loud click from upstairs.

“A.J.! We’re home!”

The sound of shuffling footsteps came from above them as a door slammed shut. There was the singular booming woof of a dog, and the high giggle of a young girl that could only be Arlo’s sister.

Arlo jumped out of bed so fast that he stumbled forwards and went crashing into the carpet with a muffled thud.

“You OK there, Robolad?” Bren said, feigning a calm he didn’t feel.

“I—I didn’t think they’d be home so quick!” he said, pulling on Bren’s shirt before he’d realized what he’d done.

“Oh, yeah, that’ll fool ’em.”

Bren helped his boyfriend off the floor as his mom’s voice called out again.

“Coming!” Arlo shouted back.

Bren raised an eyebrow and dodged the shove that followed.

Arlo turned purple and pulled on the right shirt before throwing Bren’s at him. When they were both dressed, he rose on his tiptoes and took a breath before his heels hit the floor. “Ready to meet my parents?”

“With my shirt on, yeah?” Bren said as he pushed Arlo up the stairs ahead of him.

He had barely cleared the final step when a high-pitched squeal ripped through the air.

“A.J.!”

A tiny girl with pigtails done up with rainbow bobbles streaked across the little dining room off the kitchen and launched herself into Arlo’s legs. At the same time, there was a sniffing sound down around his knees. A golden retriever was looking up at Bren through wide eyes, his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth. He gave the dog a few pets, but couldn’t help focusing on seeing Arlo in big brother mode for the first time.

“Guess what! guess what!”

“Your second-grade teacher is a pony?” Arlo asked, without missing a beat.

Holly giggled, looking up at him with her neck craned all the way back.

“No! Gillian’s in my class this year! Her desk’s right next to mine.”

“That’s even better. You’ll be able to pass notes.”

Bren made eye contact with Arlo’s mam who gave him a look that meant “give them a minute”.

“You’ll have to show your sister how to fold the paper so they’re easy to hide,” Arlo’s da said.

“Yeah!” Holly trilled as she pulled away from Arlo.

She finally noticed Bren standing next to the stairs and her smile vanished like a blown lightbulb. One hand went to tug at a pigtail as she took a half step to the right so that Arlo’s legs blocked most of her from view.

“Holly, remember how we said A.J.’s boyfriend from Ireland was going to be living with Nat this year?”

Well, that answered the question on whether Holly was in the loop or not.

She looked from her mom to Arlo before stepping out from behind his legs, and then looked Bren straight in the eye. She kept fiddling with the end of her pigtail as she held Bren’s gaze, but didn’t seem to have anything to say.