I love you, Fox Iseya.
Maybe Fox was breaking, right now.
But maybe he needed to break, to shed what was binding him, holding him locked in place, keeping him numb.
Maybe he needed to break to become stronger.
To become who he needed to be, now that he was ready to leave his grief behind.
Ready to start again.
Ready to try.
And he felt as though his next heartbeat was a fresh new thing, a different rhythm, a different timbre as he leaned into Summer, captured his mouth, whispered, “...I love you, Summer. I do. And I’ll try for you. I’ll try...and I’ll stay. So that you don’t have to go anywhere.”
Summer grinned, his mouth moving in a warm curve against Fox’s. “I don’t think we could go anywhere anyway, since I think you killed your car and I’m not crossing that river again to get to mine. So we’re kind of stuck, but maybe we could get out of the rain...?”
Fox pulled back, looking at him flatly. “I just admitted that I love you after I nearly drowned myself to get away from you, then drowned myself to get to you, and you ruin the moment with that?”
“Well, yeah.” Summer shrugged merrily. “I have to give you a reason to be mad at me to save your pride, after that.”
Fox narrowed his eyes, glaring at Summer through the water dripping off his lashes. “I take it back. I hate you.”
“No, you don’t,” Summer said, and tugged him toward the Camry, lacing their fingers together, sweetly intertwined. “You love me just as much as I love you...and I’m never going to let you forget it.”
“Hate you,” Fox muttered again as Summer pulled the back seat door open, and sank down inside the car, tugging Fox after him.
“Uh-huh.”
“As soon as we’re back at the school, you are in every bit of trouble,” Fox grumbled, as he tucked himself into the dry warmth of the car and pulled the door shut, locking out the lashing winds and rain.
“Sure I am.”
Fox narrowed his eyes, squinting at the very sodden young man currently dripping all over his back seat, his entire body glistening with sweet-wet runnels of water. “Are you taking me at all seriously right now?”
“Absolutely seriously,” Summer said, with a sly smile that made a liar out of him; he leaned in, nipped Fox’s upper lip, drew him in tight and close with a heat that felt less like lust and more like joy, building between them into something too bright to be denied. “Now c’mere...beloved. Because we’ve got a lot of time to kill before someone comes to save us...and I need to remind you exactly why you stayed.”
Epilogue
Summer had never seen anything quite so amazing as the sight of his name on an office door.
GUIDANCE COUNSELOR in all caps in bronze embossing, right above the name Summer Hemlock.
And right next to the door whose plaque read Professor Fox Iseya.
He almost hadn’t wanted his own office, but when he’d protested, his fiancé had very pointedly threatened murder if Summer was always underfoot and stopping him from getting his own work done.
Considering you’re no longer my assistant, Fox had said tartly over dinner prep, even while feeding him shreds of grated gruyere plucked from the mixing bowls, you are more of a hindrance than a help, and an entirely annoying distraction.
Summer had grinned, leaning over to steal a taste of Fox’s fingertips, and to hell with the cheese. I don’t think you find my distractions annoying at all.
I find everything about you annoying, Fox had said with a prim, haughty sniff. The way you leave your socks tangled in the sheets when you kick them off every night. The amount of closet space you take up. The fact that you vacuum the floor every morning even when I want to sleep in. You are an irritating intrusion.
And Summer had only laughed, nipping at Fox’s fingertip. And you love me.
Instant scowl. Every time. It was so predictable it made Summer laugh, while Fox had yanked his hand back, glaring at him. So what if I do?
That’s all, Summer had answered sunnily, and dumped the shredded cheese over the bowl of tossed salad before pressing a kiss to Fox’s cheek and sailing out of arm’s reach to take the salad to the dinner table. I just like reminding you that you love me as much as I love you.
For now, Fox had called after him. I’ll likely hate you tomorrow.
Sure he would.
Just as he’d likely come to hate Summer every day before that in the months since Summer had transitioned into training for the guidance counselor job.
Yet somehow, despite that supposed hate, Fox had invited Summer to move in with him, had fallen into a domestic routine with him, had tumbled him into bed every night to make Summer cry his name again and again.
Maybe he’d figure that hate thing out after a few more tries.
For now, though, Fox emerged from his office, brushing his half-loosed hair back with both hands before deftly twisting and knotting it up. He moved to stand next to Summer outside Summer’s office door, broad shoulder bumping Summer’s, then cocked his head to one side.
“I don’t see the point,” Fox said blandly. “You’ll only have to change the name in a few months anyway.”
Summer snorted, flicking his fingers against Fox’s side—his heavy platinum engagement ring warm on his finger, twin to the one glinting against Fox’s finger and his hair as he finished binding it up. “Who says I’m even taking your name?”
Something dark glinted in Fox’s eyes as he turned a sidelong look on Summer. Something possessive. Something hungry, as he swept an arm around Summer’s waist and drew him in close and tight, right there in the hallway where anyone could see if they looked out a classroom door
