was April’s turn to stare at him, shocked into stillness. He lowered his microphone and faced her, free hand lifted and waiting for her permission.
She nodded.
His palm gentle on her cheek, he studied her features with care. “Do I have something to say about it?”
“You do.” She barely recognized her own voice, hoarse with relief and love.
“Well, then.” Ducking his head, he pressed a soft kiss on her trembling lips. Another. Then he raised his microphone again. “It’s official. We’re still dating. That’s the answer to your question, Leila.”
April appreciated having such an unambiguous statement on the record.
Honestly, though, Leila would have figured it out anyway, along with everyone else who streamed the video or read the session transcript later. Especially once April surged to her feet and yanked Marcus close and used her hands in that soft, soft hair to pull him down to her.
The kiss was long. It was loving. It was fervent. It involved more tongue than was appropriate for an event advertised as family-friendly.
And for Gods of the Gates fans, it was a kiss that launched a thousand new fics.
Rating: Mature
Fandoms: Gods of the Gates – E. Wade, Gods of the Gates (TV)
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe – Modern, Celebrity!Cupid, Fan!Psyche, Come On You Know It Had to Happen, April Whittier Is Living the Dream, The Peg That Was Promised
Psyche still doesn’t believe Cupid will put her first, now and always. But when his mother attempts to come between the couple at a fan convention, he’ll show Psyche the true depths of his devotion—and his passion. In public, and in private.
Notes:
If you weren’t at Con of the Gates, you should have been. The YouTube video doesn’t do the kiss justice. Like, AT ALL. All hail April Whittier, rightful queen of the Gates stans!
* * *
As the session moderator, Psyche wasn’t meant to be answering questions herself. The possibility hadn’t even occurred to her. Who would want to talk with her, a boring geologist, when Cupid, the single hottest man on the planet, was sitting beside her?
And yet.
When she looked up, she spotted the next audience member with a question, and to her abject horror, it was Venus. Gorgeous and perfect and vengeful—and Cupid’s mother, her strangling love enough to have prodded him into his most heinous acts.
“Look at you,” the goddess made flesh sneered. “No son of mine would desire such a woman. He’s a star. You’re a mere fan. Your so-called relationship is a publicity stunt. Admit it now, Psyche. Before the world, so everyone can know you for the liar you are.”
Tears pricked her eyes. But before they could fall, warm, gentle thumbs had brushed them aside.
“Let them know you for the woman you are,” he corrected, and the microphone carried his words to the entire hall, loud and clear. “Let them know you for the woman I love.”
Then he gathered Psyche into his sheltering arms, heedless of his mother’s screech of dismay, and kissed her and kissed her until she could have sworn he’d grown wings and carried them both to the heavens.
That night, for the first time, she pegged him.
Epilogue
“I CAN’T BELIEVE IT WAS IAN ALL ALONG.” APRIL FROWNED at Marcus from above the screen of her laptop. “Was he sharing scripts with his wife, or . . . ?”
Marcus stretched out on her couch, hands behind his head, and reveled in the moment. Her, working happily on her latest one-shot fic at the kitchen table. Him, between projects and luxuriating in the time to read and write his own stories, catch up with their Lavineas friends as BAWN, and generally drag April to bed whenever possible.
They’d been together almost two years now. Engaged for almost a year.
Last month, they’d put his LA house up for sale and begun looking to buy a home in the San Francisco area instead, something large enough and within easy commuting distance of April’s work. The real estate agent had been instructed to avoid anything too close to his parents, although he and April dutifully visited his childhood home every few months and spent awkward afternoons with his mom and dad.
Awkward, but no longer especially painful. Not after the letter he’d sent, and not after his parents found themselves the focus of April’s cool, narrow-eyed scrutiny and pointed defense of him at every conceivable opportunity.
Frankly, he got the sense they were terrified of his fiancée. Which, given