Epilogue
A stride his bike, Blake turned off the freeway and rode past the familiar shape of the Water Zone castle.
In the winter, with its pools and slides drained, the water park looked a little sad and nostalgic.
Blake slowed as he drove past the kiddie pool, glancing at the smooth bow of the fiberglass pirate ship.
In the end, Noel had stuck to his word and nothing had ever come out of Blake and Celeste’s little midnight trip two summers prior.
Alex had told them how Lovepreet’s uncle threw a fit when he discovered the merman statue was missing during the end-of-the-year inspection, but had ultimately chalked it up to a miscommunication with maintenance.
Shaking his head, Blake turned onto the adjacent road and sped up the hill towards the high-rise apartments overlooking the park. He’d watched them go up several summers ago, wondering what kind of rich bastards would be moving in.
This kind of rich bastard, apparently , Blake thought as he pulled into the parking lot and beside the UHAUL where his friends had set up camp for lunch. Matt was jumping in place, waving him down.
“B!” he cried, running up to Blake’s side as he parked. “Did you remember to grab extra crazy sauce?”
Blake rolled his eyes, climbing off his bike and popping open the tack box at the back. “ Yes, Matthew, I got your fifty texts.”
Matt descended upon the bags therein, looking at the names scribbled upon them in Sharpie and throwing them aside as he saw fit.
“ Careful ,” Blake warned as Matt narrowly avoided throwing Celeste’s tostada into the street.
“I can’t help it, B! I’m starving !” Matt groaned, unearthing his bag and practically ripping it open.
“You haven’t even been doing anything!” Celeste accused from the back of the UHAUL where they were curled up under a blanket to preserve warmth.
“Not exactly true,” AJ said as Blake tossed him his bag of food. “He unpacked the first round of groceries and was sure to thoroughly sample a bit of everything.”
“I was the poison-checker,” Matt declared through a mouth overflowing with nachos. He pointed a cheese-covered finger at Celeste, scowling. “And it’s not like you’ve been doing anything either except for bossing us around !”
“ I, ” Celeste said, picking up a clipboard and gesturing towards themself importantly. “Am in charge of organizing . I need to make sure that all the boxes end up in the correct rooms and are unpacked in the proper order and—”
“Hey,” AJ interrupted Celeste’s tirade. “When’s Uncle Adrien supposed to get back?”
“Any minute now,” Blake said, checking his Fitbit and handing over the final bag of food to Celeste. “He texted me when I was in line. Said he was sorry it was taking so long.”
“Pretty convenient he got called down to San Francisco on moving day ,” Celeste complained, picking through the contents of their tostada. They glanced at Matt. “Speaking of absent boyfriends, when’s yours gonna be back with the furniture dollies?”
“Noe should be any minute now, unless he hit traffic,” Matt said through a mouthful of chips before returning his attention to Blake. “Did Adrien finally manage to get his birth certificate?”
“You can ask him yourself,” Blake gestured towards the mini-van pulling into the parking lot. Moments later, Adrien climbed out of the car, Olivia hopping out behind him and making a beeline for the pile of snacks that Matt and her brother had accrued.
“Are those takoyaki puffs?” she gasped, pointing towards the little stack of treasures. AJ scowled, covering the chips with a protective hand.
“Maybe they are,” he replied.
“AJ, don’t hog them,” Jessica huffed as she climbed out of the driver’s side. Adrien approached Blake, greeting him with a kiss.
“Hey babe, how’d it go?” Blake asked. Adrien smiled, holding up a manila folder and handing it to his fiancé.
“My mom’s ‘secret fourth child’ Adrien Porter-Marin Junior, born at home in 1998,” he grinned.
AJ glowered. “Do I have to be Adrien Junior Junior now?”
“No, because that would be silly.” Jessica patted his head.
Behind them, Matt crudely sang the first few notes of “Here Comes the Bride”. Blake glowered over his shoulder at him, but Matt kept grinning.
“That’s why you needed his birth certificate, right?” Matt asked.
“No, it’s so he can have access to his ‘inheritance’,” Jessica corrected, sitting down on the back lip of the UHAUL truck.
Since his revival, Adrien’s younger siblings had been eager to give him a healthy chunk of his royalties to “help him get on his feet”.
Blake had never asked how much, exactly, but considering the fanciness of the apartment they were currently moving into, it had to be a little more than a bit—and now that he had a birth certificate, even more was due to come his way.
Thanks to their help, Adrien himself was adjusting to modern life with ease. It hadn’t taken him long before he’d enrolled at Blake’s college for a double major in art and art history, citing a fake AA that Celeste had fudged.
As for Blake, he had graduated with his master’s degree in psychology the year before and was currently in the process of doing clinical experience for his MFT license.
It had proven to be a satisfying challenge, and there was nothing like coming home after a long day of work to a cute merman painting in the bathtub.
“Okay,” Celeste said, setting their finished meal aside and picking up their clipboard.
They twirled their pen in their hand. “After this, AJ and Blake are in charge of building the new Ikea furniture—Noel can help you when he gets back with the dollies. Jessica, you’re in charge of calling the Internet provider and getting the WiFi set up. ”
“No problem,” Jessica agreed with a smile.
“And Olivia,” Celeste began, tapping the ten-year-old on the head with their pen. “Your job is to help me and your uncle with hanging the art.”
“Okay!” Olivia chirped, elbow-deep in her brother’s relinquished bag of takoyaki puffs.
“Hey!” Matt pouted. “What about me?”
“You’re in charge of texting Noel and apologizing for taking fifty years to realize you both had a fat crush on each other.” Celeste rolled their eyes at him. “I figured you’d need the majority of your mental capacity for that.”
Matt looked angry for a moment, before turning contemplative. “Mmn, you’re probably right.”
“Anything else?” Adrien asked.
“Nope, that should do it.” Celeste clicked their pen one final time. “All right, let’s get cleaned up here!”
As everyone else set to cleaning up their lunch, Blake beckoned his fiancé aside, taking him over to their front door.
They stood together on the threshold, hands joined between them.
Beyond the little entrance sprawled a spacious living room, full of half-assembled Ikea furniture and brown boxes waiting to be unpacked.
In a place of honor upon the mantelpiece sat two little ceramics projects: a little starfish Pokémon painted with crisp, bright colors and a lopsided cup covered with a freckled glaze.
The lumpy sleeper couch from Blake and Ryan’s old apartment sat in the middle of the bright, clean room.
Blake fondly remembered the night that Adrien had convinced him not to sleep on it.
“It hardly feels real,” Adrien said, giving his fiancé’s hand a squeeze.
Blake chuckled. “You’re telling me.”
“What part are you talking about?” Adrien laughed. “The super fancy apartment, or…?”
“Well the apartment was certainly not expected.” Blake ducked his head and grinned. “But no, I mean… that I get to spend this amazing life with you. That I get to wake up every morning and have such an incredible, loving man in my life.”
“I could say the same thing,” Marin rolled up onto his tiptoes so that he could press his lips to the crown of Blake’s head.
Blake leaned over, brushing their noses together. “Could you now?”
“Mmmhmm,” Adrien hummed, encircling Blake’s neck in his arms. “I really could.”
“Is this what you wished for at Tanabata?” Blake asked, tone teasing. Marin pulled away by a margin, providing his fiancé with a cheeky wink.
“Not telling!” he replied, his grin as mysterious as ever. He lowered himself to his heels and led Blake over the threshold.
I wish that I am worthy enough for Marin to live on.
I wish for Blake to see that he was worthy of my love all along.
The End