Epilogue
EPILOGUE
A FEW YEARS LATER…
O h boy, it has been a helluva weekend.
San Diego Comic Con is always a crazy beast, taking all your energy just because of the sheer sensory overload of the whole thing. But this one, whew.
Me and Cal have three books to promote this time, and meetings with DC to work on something with them for 2032’s Summer event next year, but that isn’t even what made this weekend the craziest. Because apparently, at a panel today, when everything should have been winding down, Arran Wilson told everyone to quit comics and had a whole movie style romance moment with a cosplayer. I was exhausted already, but keeping up with the talk of the town today has been wild.
At the Hyatt bar, the mood is jubilant and electric as Cal and I roll in. Immediately I am scanning the room looking for Arran so I can get the tea. I’m wondering if it could be the mystery guy he told me all about, all those years ago.
I spot him and the tall, handsome guy he’s with as they say goodbye to Gertrude Milton and her wife. I make a beeline for them, nodding a goodbye to the ladies and making a mental note to email Gertie later as we didn’t get much chance to catch up this weekend.
“Well, hello, you! I wasn’t expecting to have our big announcement derailed by some kinda rom-com shenanigans at the gig. That was some Hall H shit from what I heard,” I give Arran a big hug, before turning and smiling at the mystery man, putting out my hand. “And would this be…?”
“This is Cameron, yeah,” Arran laughs. “Cam, this is Jesse, and his husband and writing partner, Callum.”
I shake the man, Cameron’s, hand as he greets us both, smiling and laughing a little nervously. “Nice to meet you both. I really loved When the Walls Fell , really moved me. I’ve been following your stuff since MonoMen .”
“Aw, thanks, man. We’re, well, we’re fans of you too, judging from what Arran’s said about you,” Cal jokes, shaking his hand and looking up at the guy with a smile barely hidden by his beard. I really have to get him to trim that thing back.
“Ha! All good things, then?” Cameron laughs, rubbing the back of his neck, and honestly, Arran is blushing too.
We catch up with Arran and get to know more about Cameron for a while, Cameron filling us in on his spur of the moment decision to fly out to SDCC in the hopes of bumping into Arran, unsure what would happen. He’s honestly lucky he even got a ticket here, let alone not only managed to bump into his man but get that huge romantic gesture in front of everyone too.
After a while, the conversation turns to more general small talk, how we’re all doing, what we’re working on.
“I’ll go get a round in, I’ll be right back,” Arran gets up and heads to the bar.
“I’ll come give you a hand,” Callum says, following Arran and leaving Cameron with me alone. I can’t hold it back much longer, and lean in conspiratorially.
“You know, in a way, you’re kind of responsible for me and Cal finally getting our act together and making honest men of each other.”
Cameron smiles, but with a quizzical look on his face. “How so?”
I tell him about that crazy week all those years ago, when I learned about my anxiety and almost tanked my whole career, let alone my chances with the man I absolutely adore. How Arran had shared his own romantic loss, due to focusing on career and how that might have prompted me to look at my own love life a little differently.
“I could tell, in that moment, you know. That the loss of you, for all of this ,” I gesture to the world of comics around us, men and women talking nerdy exploits, creation and business in a hot and crowded hotel bar, “That it almost killed it all for him. That losing you, he didn’t just lose his heart, but I think…I think he lost a piece of himself. A piece of his joy. He hid it well, but I could see it there, just under the surface.”
Cameron is silent, eyes cast down, hands flat on his lap. I bite my lip, realizing I let my mouth run away with me again.
“I’m sorry, I overstepped —”
“Not at all,” he says, looking back up and reaching over to grab my hand in his. “Thank you, it really means a lot that you shared that. If I’m honest, when we…parted ways the way we did, I felt the same way. The joy in me kind of, if not went away, it became diminished.
“Coming here, it was more than just wanting Arran back in my life and taking one last punt at making that happen. I think I did it for me, for reclaiming a joy that life had taken on a different path from me…but I think I saw it in Arran too. I wanted to be there to help him find it again.”
“Well, looking at the energy coming off him tonight, I’d say you succeeded.” I smile, returning Cameron’s, thinking about how the joy in life is often so caught up not just in others, but in what we seek for ourselves in it, and remembering to have it all in balance.
“ Ahem . Are we interrupting something?” Arran stands over us with a smile and an arched brow, a Porn Star Martini in one hand and a European lager in the other. I look over to see Cal approaching from behind with our drinks too.
We drink and continue talking for a good while more, Arran asking how my anxiety has been, while I compliment him on his openness about and management of his own ADHD. Cal and Cameron have a lengthy talk about environmental concerns, and I think the pair just realized a shared passion. Perhaps we’ll all be friends for years to come, all things going right.
And how I hope they do.
After a while, Arran and Cameron move along, continuing to mingle and chat with others, until I lose sight of them. As the hotel bar starts to get quieter, I realize I’ve had about as much socializing as I can handle, and nod at Cal to see if he’s ready to turn in.
He takes my hand in his, our rings gently scraping against each other, and we head for the elevator.
“It’s so nice that they found each other in the end, right?” Cal says when the doors close, blocking out the noise of what’s left of the post-convention party.
“Yeah, I always hoped they would. I mean, if it wasn’t for Arran, I might have—” I stop myself, suddenly filled by the horrid thought of what my life would have been like if I hadn’t got my head together and realized the wonderful man that had been right beside me the whole time.
He turns, and caresses my chin, “Hey, I’d have never let you leave me behind. If it wasn’t Arran, it would eventually have been me who told you to see me for who I am,” he kisses me, our little tryst reflected on either sides by the mirrored walls of the elevator, as we rise and San Diego falls below us.
“Oh yeah, and who’s that?” I rumble into his lips as we part.
“The man who’d never stopped falling for you,” he answers, kissing the tip of my nose. His beard tickles me and I lean back, making him laugh.
In our room, I potter around the bathroom brushing my teeth, taking my meds for the evening, and call back into the main room, where Cal is already in bed. “You know, he’s got an OnlyFans? Cameron, that is.”
“Should I be jealous?” Cal calls back at me, a tinkling laugh in his voice.
“Don’t be silly. Arran told me once. Though I maybe have seen a pic or two in the past,” I tease, wiping my hands on a towel as I round the corner towards the bed, wearing nothing but my tight Calvin Kleins. I stop still at the sight before me.
Cal is in the bed, holding the cover up over him like a cape, inviting me in. He’s leaning up on his other elbow, a grin over his face, the tension in his frame making his taut muscles jump to the fore. He’s not wearing a single thing except that smile.
“Well, I guess I better give you something else to think about,” he purrs.
“Yes please,” I yelp as I leap into the bed, bringing the covers down over us as I wrap around him, both of us giggling like idiots.
I don’t feel so exhausted all of a sudden.