Chapter 27
GATHER YE ROSEBUDS
Oscar took Aaron to the place he’d once promised, a house of coffee and pancakes.
Papa hadn’t had the chance to take Oscar after that one trip to the barber, and it had taught him not to wait too long to do things, not to linger on befores.
The first time Oscar had promised Aaron coffee and pancakes, it had taken them more than seven weeks to get there.
They had been to the same place many times since then, sat at the same table, ordered the same food. And Oscar would never grow tired of it. He no longer wondered now whether Aaron would stand him up; this was not a risk when they always came together. They always left together, too.
Aaron produced a thin stack of bills from his wallet and put them in the leather folder the waitress had brought. Oscar didn’t argue. It was nice to be taken care of, nice to let him do it.
His tears had dried up, and his skin had cleared after all the crying from sheer relief, the terror leaving his body. Dr. Andrews had let them sit in his office a little longer to process the good news.
“My feelings shouldn’t be bigger than yours,” Oscar had said, squeezing a word in between each staccato breath.
“They’re bound to be, with a heart that big,” Aaron had replied. And then he’d kissed him, and Oscar’s breathing had evened.
Since that moment, Oscar had spent many a minute glancing at his phone, typing out little secrets, lingering outside the coffee shop and inside, too, suggesting a walk on the fine sunlit morning instead of the bus.
With their hands joined, Oscar and Aaron made their way up to their apartment. Oscar almost regretted his little plan when Aaron’s hand began to slide over his backside the moment his key turned in the lock.
But there would be time for it, all the years to come.
For now, Oscar basked in the joy that welcomed them home.
Tobe leapt at Aaron, pulling him into their shoulder, kissing him on the cheek over and over again while he tried to gather himself.
Marta and Anna got in line for a hug, Riley holding on to Luigi like a baby in their arms. And Joe came to Oscar, wrapping an arm around him.
“I knew it would be alright,” he said.
“Hey.” Lina was waiting beside him, ready to wrap Oscar into one of her hugs. “I’m so grateful and so relieved.”
“Yeah, he grows on you, doesn’t he?” Oscar held his sister by the shoulder, glancing Aaron’s way, watching him shine, eyes glimmering, mouth split into a grin, as his friends skipped around, holding his hands, Joe lifting him into a bear hug.
“Sure grew on you,” Lina murmured. When Oscar looked, her eyes were on the ring on Aaron’s hand, his black nails scratching his head as he laughed, soft and smooth and everything Oscar had ever dreamt of. “Looks familiar.”
“I didn’t ask if you wanted it,” Oscar said.
“We both know it should be yours,” Lina replied, bumping his arm.
“He was both our Papa,” Oscar said.
“Congratulations, Spike,” Lina said, tilting her head to rest it on his shoulder.
“Thanks, Minnie,” he replied, kissing her on the temple.
Grandma had her arms around Aaron now. Lina had picked her up on the way over, not even hesitating when Oscar asked whether she might want to drive to their apartment to celebrate Aaron’s good news.
Tobe and Marta hadn’t even been a question, Riley a happy accident who had been hanging out at their office, playing with the ferret the organization had adopted.
Aaron was nodding into Grandma’s shoulder, eyes filled with tears. Oscar wished Gemma could be here for him, too, that Aaron could let his mother hold him and tell him that she loved him, that Robbie was a fool.
“Well, we brought drinks!” Tobe said, heading over to the fridge like they lived there.
“And snacks,” Anna added, picking a bag up off the floor.
Moments later, their friends were spread out on the couch, Grandma sitting on the armchair with Lina and Riley on either side of her, and Oscar and Aaron were standing in front of them, Oscar’s arms around Aaron’s waist while Aaron told them the final verdict and how happy he was and how great it felt to finally know.
“And Oscar passed every exam,” he said at last, twisting his neck to look at him, eyes narrowed. “Did you think I wasn’t waiting for your results, too?”
“They hardly matter,” Oscar replied, shrugging.
But they did, even if they mattered a little less, and Aaron shifted closer in his grip, pressing his shoulder into Oscar’s chin, fitting with him like a freshly cut puzzle piece.
“I’ve also made a decision,” Aaron said.
Oscar squeezed a drop of courage into him, thumb rubbing the skin where his shirt had hiked up over the hip. They’d talked about it at the coffee shop, an announcement Aaron had waited to make until he got his results.
“Finally!” Tobe said. “Yes, my boy!”
“That’s lovely, Aaron. Nursing is such a wonderful career,” Grandma said. “Good for you, sweetheart.”
“I decided it was time I started. I’ve looked into cheaper options and colleges, and it will take me a little longer than normal, but I’ve waited this long.
I can wait a little longer.” Aaron drew circles with his thumb on the back of Oscar’s hand.
“I’ve learned that it’s okay to share the load with someone else.
We don’t have to be everything all at once, and Oscar and I are happy in this little rent-controlled apartment we can both afford. ”
“I’m so excited for you,” Oscar said, smiling against his cheek.
Who would have known a year before that he’d be kissing his boyfriend in front of Lina and Grandma and an entire friend group he hadn’t yet met? But he was. Because time was a funny thing, and Oscar had learned from a very young age not to let it slip from his grasp.
“Carpe Diem,” Robin Williams had said in his Dead Poets Society speech, and Oscar meant to.
He was just waiting for Lucas to see his message.
Until then, he swung Aaron in his arms and let their friends ask him about the course and the college for which he’d be commuting nearly an hour back and forth every day for twice the duration of a normal course so he could do it for a reduced rate.
Eventually, the Space Invaders theme began to play. Oscar left Aaron with a kiss on the cheek and answered the call, bringing his laptop to the small table that sat between the armchair and the couch, facing them.
“We’re thrilled to hear the news!” Philip said, clapping at the camera as he caught sight of Aaron.
“Thanks, Phil,” Aaron said, offering a smile.
They’d hit it off instantly, which wasn’t such a surprise.
Oscar knew Lucas was looking at him, this friend he’d found lurking on a gaming server a few years before.
Now Lucas and his husband were on a video call with Oscar’s new friends, with his family, and their infant daughter was in Lucas’s arms, which looked like they’d been built to hold her.
“Well,” Oscar said, clearing his throat. “We do have something more to say.”
Tobe perked up like a cat, Marta’s eyes widening. Grandma simply smiled.
“We’re getting married.” It fell out of Aaron’s mouth like warm apple pie filling, sweet and full and satisfying, settling in Oscar’s stomach and tightening a knot.
Aaron was happy. He wanted this. He wanted this as much as Oscar did.
As he lifted his hand and waved his fingers, Marta and Anna began to scream.
“Fuck me!” Tobe said, shaking their head. “Fuck me. Fuck. Fuck me.”
“Fucking hell, I will if you stop saying that!” Marta replied, casting them a glare.
Tobe froze, mouth going slack. Their eyes found Marta, landing on her smirking mouth, cheeks going as bright a pink as their hair, but Marta didn’t elaborate, responding with a simple smirk before turning her attention back to Oscar and Aaron, her hand slipping sneakily into Tobe’s on their touching thighs.
“I knew that was Oscar’s ring when I saw it on Aaron’s finger,” Grandma said.
Tobe frowned, glancing between Grandma and Oscar, trying to do the math.
“My father’s name was Oscar,” Oscar explained, squeezing Aaron a little closer.
“He always said one day it would be Spike’s,” Grandma said, turning to their friends before settling on him again. “He probably thought you’d be the one wearing it. Your father always knew. I have no doubt about it.”
“Yeah. I know,” Oscar replied. “He always did.”
A chatter of excitement had fallen on the group.
Oscar had expected at least one of them to say that this was quick.
But Tobe had already put themself in charge of the music for their wedding, spitting out song names that Riley was quickly typing into their Notes app after reluctantly letting go of Luigi.
“So…” Joe said, mouth twisting into a smirk. “Given the only he/hims in this room other than me are the grooms, does that automatically make me the best man?”
“Excuse us!” Lucas said through the screen.
“You’re not technically in the room, Luke,” Philip said, rolling his eyes.
“I am going to be Spike’s best man, long distance.” Lucas grinned, flashing Oscar a wink.
“We’re broke, guys,” Aaron said. “It’ll probably be a courthouse ceremony with some very sappy vows, a stack of pancakes and several cups of coffee, and then Tobe can DJ to their heart’s content here, in our apartment.”
“You could always wait until the winter, save up for a small party!” Tobe suggested.
“We…” Oscar found Aaron’s eyes as he leaned over his shoulder, waited for his nod. “We want to do it on the anniversary of our surgeries. Our lives changed that day. I want to remember it forever.”
“We will,” Aaron said.
Oscar and Aaron shut the door on the last of their friends to leave.
Joe and Anna had stayed behind to help them clean up a little.
Aaron had gone to the kitchen with them, to thank them again for how readily they’d welcomed him into their apartment the previous year and how grateful he was for them.