dog food,” Miki reminded him. “You guys are all weird. Hold on. One last bit.”
The wrapping unraveled easily once all of the tape was off, and Miki pulled the toy loose. Free from its cloudy prison, the plush animal sprung out, its legs and arms bouncing about and its belly slowly easing from its squished-in state. The nap of its fur was soft, a chinchilla plush on Miki’s palms, and after some searching, he found the animal’s beady black eyes buried in the thick blond fur. Its two round ears took a little bit of fluffing before they stood up, but eventually, Kane’s prize resumed its round, happy shape.
“Motherfucker, it’s a bear,” Miki laughed. “Swear to God, I thought it was going to be something we couldn’t figure out.”
“I like the shirt,” Kane said, tugging on the bear’s hem. “Happy with it?”
“Yeah, I am.” Miki stared down at the toy, stroking its face. “You know, I think this is the first teddy bear I’ve ever gotten. Or at least that I remember. Kinda of stupid, yeah?”
His throat grew scratchy, and Miki wondered why his eyes were tearing up as the salty sting spread from the corner of his eyes. The damned bear was just so normal, something thousands if not millions of people bought for their kids at any given time of their childhood, but here he sat at a park bench in the middle of a sea of people holding—no, cradling—something so simple and basic to his chest.
“Thank you,” he murmured, searching for words to explain the swell of bittersweet and sugar in his soul. It was stupid to be crying over a damned bear. Absolutely the dumbest thing in the world to be soaking its fur with a few salty tears, but despite Miki’s sniffle, the bear’s fur turned dark in spots where the drops fell from his lashes. “Fucking idiot. Why does this damned thing make me cry?”
“Doesn’t matter why,” Kane whispered, his finger pressing on Miki’s chin to lift his face up. Kissing away one of the last teardrops threatening to fall, Kane wrapped his arms around Miki’s shoulders, rocking him into a tight embrace. “If there’s one thing I want to spend my life doing, Mick, it’s bringing these kinds of happy to you. I want to take you to fairs and splash in a cold freshwater river and do all the things that you should have been doing but were too busy just… being you. Now’s the time we’ve got for it, and I promise you, a ghra, just like I promised God, our family, and your dog, I’m going to spend the rest of my life loving you, and I’m going to cherish each smile you give me and hold it in my heart. Because I love you. Just like you love me. Forever.”
Coming Home
KANE KNEW the exact moment Miki came home. He didn’t need to see Dude pop his head up, perking up from his place on the new sectional they’d bought before Crossroads Gin went on their mini West Coast tour. And he definitely couldn’t hear the sound of the tour bus pulling up to the main road out in front of the warehouses, its bloated girth too wide and long to come down the driveway to drop Miki off.
He knew because the cold outside seemed to shift, something in the air growing warmer; then the sun broke through the wintery fog cloaking the warehouse when his rock star walked through the front door.
They’d been married for nearly five years and had been together a few before that momentous day Miki sang his heart out to Kane in the middle of Finnegan’s Pub, but Kane didn’t think the day would ever come when Miki didn’t take his breath away.
He brought the road in with him, a windswept disheveled weariness laced with a soul-deep satiation. Miki coming off a tour looked nearly the same as the moments right after sex, a sensual, long pour of liquid grace and heart-stopping beauty.
Kane did take a bit of pride in knowing music couldn’t put a languid smile on Miki’s full mouth when it was done with him, not like Kane could after a few hours of intense, bone-shattering pleasure.
The dog got to Miki first. That was only fair. Dude had been there first, and the golden-haired terrier was slowing down, his legs stiff in the morning, but he was more than eager to get out the front door for a long ramble. Kane stood by