"Hi."

"Hi!"

"Oh my God," Orion whispers to me quickly, "he's even more adorable in person!"

"I know," I whisper back.

We're at a planned visit at the facility. Since we're doing this through the system this time instead of through a private institution, the rules and regulations are slightly different. Supervised home visits, like we had with Thomas and Hazel, aren't allowed. There is also a set number of visitations you must meet by the time the adoption process is done, and you have to request visitations on holidays.

"Hi," Nick says again, waving at us.

I squeeze Orin's hand and nearly cry.

"I'm Orion," Orion says, sitting down in a tiny red chair. His knees are practically at his chest. I chose to kneel at the tiny toddler table that Nick is sitting at.

"Hi Orion! Do you like Captain Marvel?" He holds up an action figure.

Orion laughs. "You know what? I do, actually!"

"I'm Tristan," I say.

Nick turns to me. "Hi Tristan! Do you like Captain Marvel?"

"I...don't know who she is," I comment, because it's true.

"It's okay," Orion says to Nick, winking, "we could teach Tristan all about Captain Marvel."

"She's the best!" Nick gushes. He gets to his feet and makes a fist. "Did you know she has fire powers?!"

I look at Orion and laugh. "No, I didn't."

"She does!" he sits back down. "She's an alien. That means she's not from Eerf."

"O-oh," I say, nodding stoically, "I see..."

"What's your favorite color Nick?" Orion asks, grinning from ear to ear.

"Bwue." He looks at us with such innocent, wide eyes...I've nearly forgotten how precious it is when small child look at you like that. "I have a dog that's bwue."

I look at Orion and crack a grin. "Oh, you do?"

"His name is Ralphie."

Orion can't help himself--he cracks up. He covers his mouth. "I'm sorry...Ralphie? That's quite the name."

"It's okay. He's just pwetended."

Nick smiles at us.

~

"Ralphie, the 'pwetended' blue doggie," Orion laughs as we walk down the stairs an hour later.

"God, Thomas and Hazel are going to eat him up," I say, grinning from ear to ear.

"I'm going to eat him up!" Orion tells me. "He's just too fucking cute!"

We get to Orion's car. Once we're in and the doors are shut, Orion leans over, grabs my face, and kisses me passionately. When we're done I look at him, breathless.

"What was that for?"

He smiles fondly and strokes my face a bit. He then gives me a final quick kiss and then buckles up. "Nothing. I just love you. You're perfect."

As he drives away, I can't help but blush a little.

~

I'm lying next to Orion after sex. It's nice, being so into someone years into the relationship. It's nice knowing that your partner is that into you, too.

"I don't bottom," Orion says, looking at the ceiling.

The confusion in my reply must be damn near tangible. "But...you just did?"

Orion turns his head to look at me. "Oh, I know. I mean I don't usually."

I'm still very confused. "Yes you do?"

Orion laughs then, covering his face a second. "I'm sorry, I'm not explaining myself well. I mean, besides with you."

"Oh." I blink, and then hurry on. "I'm really sorry, I didn't know you didn't like that, we can stop--"

"Tris," he says with a chuckle, putting his hand on my shoulder, "relax. I do like it, but just with you. It's something special, just between us."

"Oh," I say again warily. "Well, if that ever changes, please tell me."

Orion rolls onto his stomach, briefly kissing my cheek. He then claps his hands together and cocks his head to the side, viewing me inquisitively. "When did you realize you were gay?"

I can't help it--I laugh. He frowns a little, the adorable vertical line becoming prominent between his eyebrows.

"I kinda always knew," I reply simply. "There wasn't this big, dramatic, shocking moment. I never had an epiphany. I never was interested in girls, and at a young age I asked my mom if two boys can like each other."

"Woah, really? How old were you?"

"I d'no." I think for a moment, looking at the ceiling. "Maybe...nine or ten?"

"That's wild!"

"Personally I think drama regarding coming out or realizing you're gay is mostly in movies and TV shows and books..."

Orion laughs bitterly. "Gee do I wish that were true."

I cock my eyebrow. "Why do I feel like there's a story there?"

"Oh there is," he says, clearly still bitter. "But I want you to continue."

"There's not much to continue with," I say honestly. "I asked my mom, she told me about gay people, I told her I thought I was gay, she said she thought I was too young to know that but she'd check in with me periodically--which she did."

Orion chuckles.

"And we both decided she didn't need to check in with my feelings anymore after my first boyfriend." I shrug.

"Living in Texas, did you get any discrimination?"

"Not too much," I tell him. "I lived in a nicer area, well, more developed I mean. All of Texas is nice."

That makes him smile fondly at me and he lays back down, his cheek on his forearms as he looks up at me.

"But yeah, Amarillo is a major city, and like all major cities it's diverse. So yeah, here and there I ran into issues, mostly just the occasional Brokeback Mountain reference--"

Orion chuckles and shakes his head.

"--but I was never gaybashed thankfully." I pause. "What about you? When did you realize you were bi?"

Orion sits up. Before answering he puts on his shirt and his pair of briefs. He then sits cross legged in front of me. I swear to you, looking at him like that, with his hair all messy, with his glasses on...it was like I was falling in love with him again.

"Growing up I had this best friend," Orion says. "We were inseparable. We told each other everything."

"Around sixth grade I realized that I had a crush on him. But unlike you, Mr. Cool," he teases, briefly sticking his tongue out at me, "I went into full panic mode. I was attending Catholic school--my family was super religious. Not to mention I started questioning what I actually felt, because I knew I liked girls, too. I was fucking confused."

That makes me chuckle.

He sighs then, running his hand through his hair and looking off to the side. "So then my dumb ass started seeing things that weren't there--or, at least after I did something I didn't think they were, but they might have been?"

"I'm lost."

"Sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself." Orion sighs heavily. "A few days before we graduated 8th grade I decided to act on my feelings and I kissed him."

My eyes grow. "I'm...guessing that didn't go over well?"

"Oh fuck no." Orion chirps his uncomfortable laugh. "We both got expelled but we earned our diploma's."

I sit up, immediately angry. "That's bullshit!"

Here merely shrugs, and the fact he's so blase about the entire thing makes me even angrier. "It was a private, Catholic school, they could do whatever the fuck they wanted to. Not to mention officially it was declared a matter of harassment."

"Harassment?! Kissing someone isn't--"

Now Orion laughs at me. "Dude, chill. It's fine. It's in the past, okay? I obviously survived."

I simmer a bit, but only after producing a low growl in my throat.

"So since we were expelled we couldn't attend the Catholic High School...so we ended up in High School together."

"That's fucking bullshit!" I erupt again.

Orion laughs. "Do I have to stop my story?"

I cross my arms and shake my head.

"Good. So we went to the public High School where he proceeded to bully me pretty badly. He ended up getting himself expelled over it."

"Jesus..."

"Wanna know the real kicker?" Orion grins at me.

"What?"

"Years later he showed up at one of our concerts to apologize to me. He also came out to me."

Now I laugh. "Are you serious?"

"As a heart attack. He said the reason why he kept beating the shit out of me was that he was in denial and afraid."

"That's...really screwed up." I pause thoughtfully, and the next thing I say is hesitant. "Did you forgive him?"

Orion smiles faintly, and how his eyes become unfocused I can tell he's probably remembering the exchange. "He didn't ask for my forgiveness, and honestly had he asked then I wouldn't have given it to him."

"That bad, huh?"

"Yeah." Orion blinks, coming back to the present, and smiles at me. "But now? Yeah, I do. I do now."

"God...You've changed so much..." It's sappy, and I know it is, but I don't care. I stroke his face. "I have nothing but the utmost respect for you, Orion."

Orion laughs and scratches his shoulder, looking off to the side.

"I'm serious. You're really amazing. Your transformation as a person is just...Awe inspiring."

"Stop," he tells me, turning a bit pink from his cheeks to his collarbones.

"I'm being serious. You're an amazing person, Orion."

The corner of his mouth turns into the smallest, sweetest smile. He then closes his eyes, leans in, and kisses me.

"I love you, Tristan," he whispers to me.

"I love you too, Orio. I love you so much."

"Forever?"

"And always."