Epilogue
TYLER
2 years later
O kay, but seriously, why was there never food at these stupid work events?
Tyler took an angry sip of his sparkling water and glared daggers at the bowl of trail mix in front of him. He was sure it was supposed to symbolize blazing new trails with the company expansion or whatever.
His phone buzzed with Clara’s vibration sequence, and he quickly pulled it out, grimacing at the time.
A gentle hand landed on his forearm, and he looked into concerned blue eyes.
“I can go pick up Layla so you and Jackson can accept whatever bargain brand plaque they’re going to give your team,” Sky said, his voice quiet enough not to alert their coworkers but somehow still lilting with sarcasm.
“You don’t want to stay and see Jackson accept the award? I could go get her, it’s no problem,” Tyler whispered back, leaning down to wrap a subtle arm around Sky’s lower back.
A little over a year ago, Jackson had been promoted to oversee a team of controllers, which had caused a bit of friction in the accounting department. They were very out and proud about their relationship at work, and technically, Tyler wasn’t allowed to report to him. HR had been brought in to sort things out, and eventually, Tyler had been moved to another team. The whole thing had become moot when that team lead left, and Tyler was promoted to lead the team, putting him back at Jackson’s same reporting level.
Both his and Jackson’s teams had been working for almost six months directly with the CFO of the company on the upcoming expansion. Tonight was a ceremony celebrating all the teams that had been putting in the long hours, and Jackson had been selected to accept the award for the accounting department.
Sky’s eyes crinkled in that way they did when Tyler said something sweet–but stupid. “Baby, you’re an important member of the team.” His lips quirked up, and he tilted his head to rest on Tyler’s shoulder. “And an equal member of our triad. I don’t need to stay to see Jackson anymore than you do.”
Tyler squeezed his waist and planted a quick kiss on his head. It had taken a while for Tyler to accept that he was not only a part of Jackson and Sky’s relationship but an equal part of it. He’d truly had no issue with Jackson and Sky remaining married, but the dissolution of their marriage the previous summer had put them on more equal legal footing at least.
Tyler had been excited to contribute to bills when he moved in with them, but after only a few months, they realized their sweet little condo wasn’t enough space for three grown men. Sky had been hesitant at first, bad memories from their previous relationship resurfacing, but eventually he sat them all down, and they started drawing up legal papers. They ended up forming a family owned LLC, which allowed them to equally own the condo they bought a little uptown. It had three bedrooms, one of which they outfitted with a guest bed Layla was finally old enough to sleep in, as well as a fully decked out home office for the three of them, and a good sized master bedroom that could fit all their shit.
“I know, sweetheart,” Tyler said. ”I meant that she’s my spawn, so I’m happy to pick her up.”
Clara and Stephanie had decided to tell Layla where her sperm donation came from–obviously not in so many words–and Tyler had accidentally joked that she was his spawn while she had been within earshot. She’d loved the word so much, it had become sort of like a nickname. Clara and Stephanie didn’t mind; in fact, Stephanie had bought them custom t-shirts that said “Spawn” and “Uncle of Spawn” for Christmas.
“I think Sky doesn’t want to be here anymore than we do, darling,” Jackson said. Even though he was almost a foot away, his deep voice rumbled through Tyler, and he leaned a little heavier into Sky’s side.
Sky gave him a knowing squeeze before releasing him. “So, it’s settled? Why don’t you two finish up here, and you can meet us at the house?” Sky glanced at the bowl of trail mix, and then smirked up at Tyler. “We’ll have pizza and root beer ready and waiting for you.”
“You’re the best,” Tyler said.
“Thanks, love. We’ll see you soon, and I’m sure Tyler will send you lots of pictures,” Jackson said, nodding his head at Sky, who gave a campy salute and sauntered off.
Tyler let himself watch his partner’s sweet ass for a few moments before returning to staring blankly at the stage. The CEO could be a bit long-winded, and he’d already run the program over by thirty minutes.
With a start, he realized he hadn’t answered Clara, but as he went to grab his phone off the table, he noticed Jackson already had his out. He saw a familiar group photo they’d taken as a family–his parents, Clara, Stephanie, Layla, himself, and his men–and a moment later, their family group chat dinged with an incoming text from Jackson.
“ Sky was able to make an early escape. He’s coming to get Layla now ,” it read.
“ The Spawn ,” Sky immediately corrected.
Jackson rolled his eyes, and when he glanced over at Tyler, he rolled them again.
Tyler stepped around the table so he was shoulder to shoulder with his larger partner.
“You ready?” he asked, tucking his phone into his back pocket, giving him an excuse to drag his hand over Jackson’s hip on the way back to the table top.
Jackson smiled down at him, then sighed. “Ready as I’ll ever be. You’re much better at public speaking. I don’t know why they couldn’t have gone with you.”
Tyler bumped their shoulders together. “You’re a prettier face.”
Jackson snorted, and when a few of their coworkers glanced their way, he hid his face in his cup of water.
Over ten minutes later, making them forty minutes late, the CEO finally wrapped up his speech and began calling employees up to the stage. Tyler whipped out his phone and recorded Jackson walking up to the stage when his name was called. He cheered loudly, and quite obnoxiously, figuring he was owed at least that after the long nights and pathetic food offerings. He couldn’t even enjoy the free beer because of course this stupid event had to be planned for a night Layla was staying over.
He kept his phone trained on the stage throughout Jackson’s entire speech, switching to camera mode right at the end to grab a few photos he quickly shot off to the family group chat.
As Jackson descended from the stage Tyler’s phone buzzed again. His fingers tingled at Sky’s familiar vibration.
“ Spawn has been acquired! ” Sky texted. “ She’s so excited to see Mammy and Pa, she made up a song about it.”
They were taking her to see Sky’s parents for the weekend, since they were technically a part of her big, convoluted family. They’d come to visit the previous year, and it had just so happened to coincide with one of the nights Tyler was watching Layla. The three of them had immediately fallen in love with each other, and they’d gone to visit a few months ago with Stephanie and Clara. This would be her first time visiting without her moms, and Tyler was glad to see she didn’t have any jitters.
Tyler threw his arms around Jackson’s neck the second he was within reach, nearly crushing the flimsy certificate the CEO had handed him.
“Careful, love. You almost crushed our recognition for six months of back-breaking work,” Jackson joked, pulling the certificate out from between them.
A member of Tyler’s team came up to them and shook hands with Jackson, and they all joked about the absurdity of a certificate. The accounting department took up almost a floor and a half of the building. Where were they even going to hang the stupid thing?
“Guess you get to hang it up in your office, boss,” Tyler said, slapping Jackson on the shoulder as they walked to the elevators.
“Maybe I’ll leave it on Quinn’s desk,” Jackson mused, using the corner of the certificate to jab the up button. It left a little crease in the paper, and Tyler snorted as he wrapped an arm around Jackson’s back. When they stepped into the elevator, blessedly alone, he slid his hand into Jackson’s back pocket.
“Behave yourself,” Jackson said, but he brought his unoccupied hand around to Tyler’s ass and squeezed it, not even bothering with his pocket.
After they gathered their stuff from their respective offices, Jackson went to the CFO’s office to drop off the certificate, and Tyler called them a ride-share. The drive was a bit longer than it used to be, but the quieter streets and larger space of their condo was completely worth it.
“I told you we should have driven separately this morning,” Tyler said, as Jackson unfolded himself from the back of the admittedly small sedan.
“Yeah, well, you and Sky were taking so long in the shower, I figured if I left without you, you’d both be hours late.”
Tyler smirked as a still frame image of Sky’s face flashed across his mind. Water was running down the soft crests of his cheekbones as he stared up at Tyler from his knees.
Jackson shoulder-checked him, almost sending him crashing into Sky’s azalea bush. “You two are insatiable.”
They really were. Tyler had never had so much amazing sex in his life. He didn’t take a single moment for granted, though. Not the time Sky fell asleep mid-fuck because he’d stayed up till four am the night before playing a new cozy island game, or the time Jackson fell off the bed and dented their nightstand with his shoulder. He regretted his own stupidity the time he’d ripped the shower rod out of the wall because he was convinced it would hold his weight while Jackson took him from behind. But, even so, he’d savored every minute he spent hunched over YouTube with Jackson trying to figure out how to reinstall the damn thing, Sky laughing the entire time.
The smell of garlic and pepperoni met them at the door, followed shortly after by a singing Layla. It turned out the song about Mammy and Pa was just their names over and over at varying volumes and pitches.
Tyler scooped her up and followed his nose into the kitchen. He found his gorgeous partner leaning against the kitchen island with his arms folded, a soft smile on his pretty lips. Sky turned his face up and accepted a cheek kiss from first Jackson and then Tyler.
Over dinner, Layla told them, in exorbitant detail, every single thing she wanted to do at Mammay and Pa’s house. Tyler tried to jot down mental notes at the beginning, like the exact shape of mac n’ cheese she wanted and the flavor of juice she was excited about. When she began listing out the very precise shape and type of spaceship she required for her trip to Mars with Mammy, Tyler stopped taking notes and switched to slowly gazing around the room at three of the most important people in the world to him.
Jackson was nodding enthusiastically as Layla stared directly into his soul and described the types of cake she was pretty sure existed on Mars. He was tilting forward over the table, curling his shoulders in so he appeared much smaller and was closer to Laya’s height in her booster seat. One of his hands was holding a slice of pizza and the other was hidden under the table, either resting in his lap or possibly on Sky’s leg.
Sky was reclined in his chair, both arms crossed loosely over his chest as he gazed fondly at Layla. Every few minutes, he’d interject with increasingly farfetched suggestions for the community Layla was planning to form on Mars.
“What do you think, love?” Sky asked, turning his crystal blue eyes on Tyler. “Should there only be pizza and cake on Mars, or do you think we should have a vegetable or two, like–”
“Corn!” Layla interjected, waving her piece of pizza in the air, sending several pepperoni flying.
“I like corn,” Jackson said, grabbing one of the pepperonis and placing it on his last bite of pizza.
Layla fell into a fit of giggles at Jackson eating her “table pepperoonie!”
Tyler searched under the table with his foot until his ankle found Jackson’s. Jackson immediately pressed back, and that spot under Tyler’s ribs fluttered to life. He reached for Sky, who immediately unfolded his arms to take Tyler’s hand. Sky squeezed once before threading their fingers together and resting their linked hands on his thigh. That spot gave a few frantic pulses and then settled into a pervasive warmth Tyler felt all up and down his chest.
He could feel Jackson’s gaze on him as he stared into Sky’s sparkling eyes. “Mine,” he mouthed, and a smile like sunrise on Christmas morning broke across Sky’s face. Tyler glanced at Jackson and repeated the word.
Jackson pressed against his leg as Sky squeezed his hand. Layla launched into a new rendition of her song, and Tyler was just barely able to make out two soft voices whispering, “Ours.”