And just above them, on the stone statue, Xan was staring down with wide eyes and parted lips that Luca could still taste on his own. Time stopped for a moment—which felt like an eternity. Then more roman candles around him began to pop and fizzle. It gave a strobe effect for a second as they exploded in his periphery, and every time he blinked, Xan was a little bit closer.
His hand clenched tight to Sebastion, but his other was reaching out, and it felt like the younger man crossed an entire universe, but suddenly he was against Luca’s body, and Sebastion was pressing them both together. He could smell him—familiar and unfamiliar scents. He was warm though and trembling, and Luca wasn’t sure what the hell to do with himself.
“You came,” Xan said, his voice so low, Luca had to read his lips. “You…”
Luca cupped his cheek, then his gaze tore over to his husband who was smiling. “Of course we did.”
Xan swallowed thickly. “Does this mean…”
“Anything,” Sebastion said. He leaned in close, holding Luca with one hand and cupping Xan’s face with the other. “Everything.”
They drank. They drank, and they danced, and Xan spun in circles, and Luca kissed Sebastion under a shower of colored lights. And then they pressed the younger man in close, afraid to let him move away too far. Luca pressed warm lips to his palms, brushing his curled knuckles over his cheeks, Sebastion holding him from behind like he was surprised it was all real.
“Come back to our hotel,” Sebastion murmured, his voice barely audible over the voices, though the music had long-since stopped.
Xan blinked up at Luca. “Yes?”
Luca nodded. “I’ll beg if I have to. I’ll get down on my knees, though I think I might be standing in…I don’t even know what.”
Xan let out a watery laugh and laced their fingers together, then reached back with his other hand for Sebastion. “Now?”
Now or never, Luca thought. They moved through the crowd, a hum of desperation and anticipation now settled between all three of them. Xan made his way to the metro like he’d done it a thousand times, and Sebastion murmured the address before they moved to the platform to wait. There was a hotdog vendor and several people waiting for food—all still drunk and high on the mood of the evening. It was peace and chaos all rolled into one.
The car was emptier than Luca expected it to be, and there was a seat long enough to fit all three of them. Xan sat in the middle, and Luca played with his fingers, and Sebastion’s arm stretched behind them so he could trace a line around Luca’s ear. He wasn’t sure what the rest of the night was going to mean, or what was going to happen in the future, but this felt a lot like stealing back a moment that had been lost.
“Will your cousin miss you?” Sebastion asked as the car began to slow, and Xan sat up a little straighter.
He laughed. “No. She knew why I was here, and I think she was half-passed out by the time we took off.”
Sebastion frowned. “Should we worry?”
“No,” Xan said. He took a breath, but he didn’t say anything as they stood up and stepped out, the station a lot quieter than the last one. He held their hands again as they made their way past advertisements and faded old band flyers, and eventually they were back on the street.
The hotel wasn’t far, and Luca took a breath before he pulled them both to a stop. “I can’t do this for one night,” he said when two sets of eyes were on him. “I’m…I waited a long time, and I can wait even longer if you need me to. But I can’t…” He licked his lips and shook his head.
Xan released Sebastion’s hand and used his free one to shove Luca’s sleeve to his elbow. He had stopped wearing the compression sleeve, and his scars looked strange under the harsh yellow glow of the streetlamps.
“The phoenix tattoo,” he said.
Luca swallowed thickly. “I probably should have told you.”
He looked up with wide eyes, then darted a glance over his shoulder at Sebastion. “I’m glad you didn’t. I wasn’t ready. I would have ruined everything if I tried to stay.” He dragged a hand down his face with a sigh. “I needed to be angry. Like…really angry.”
“Are you still?” Sebastion asked, walking closer.
Xan shrugged one shoulder, biting his lower lip for