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perpetual_motionTitle: Adding on Family
Author: Perpetual Motion
Fandom: DC Comics (Green Lantern Corps/Blue Beetle 2.0)
Pairing: Guy Gardner/Jaime Reyes
Rating: PG
Summary: Bianca is forever trying not to mother Guy, and then Jaime tells her they're together.
Dis: Lies and Bullshit.
Author's Notes: While this particular story is notdytabytes fault, the idea of Guy/Jaime is partially her fault. Because she helped me hash out the basic idea, and off my brain went. So, totally, kind of her fault. I am assure she does not care a whit. Also, self-betaed, so have a typo hunt!
Adding on Family
By Perpetual Motion
She doesn’t mean to mother him. He’s a full-grown man, for goodness sake, and she knows he can take care of himself, but there’s something about him that begs for motherly affection, so whenever Guy flies into town, Bianca finds herself treating him like one of her own children.
“What did I say about those cookies?” she asks when she finds him in the kitchen during a family-and-friends-and-heroes-in-civilian-clothes barbecue. Guy has a cookie in his mouth and another in his hand.
“They’re for dessert,” Guy answers. He glances down at the second cookie, then holds it out to her. “They’re really good.”
And suddenly they’re contemporaries again, sharing an adults-only moment as the sounds of the kids yelling in the backyard carries in through the open back door. She takes the cookie and leans against the counter, eyes him carefully as he dusts crumbs from the front of his shirt and takes a drink of his beer. “How are you?” she asks.
“Pretty good,” he says, and she believes him. He’s started coming almost regularly, every few weeks or so. He always shows up with a small gift. Glowing blue rocks from some planet far away or wine from an old supplier from when he had a bar on Earth. He brings Milagro dolls from other worlds and stories about space men. He talks sports and cars with Alberto, and he always goes on patrol with Jaime. They’ve struck up a friendship that Bianca is glad Jaime has. It’s given him a measure of confidence in himself he’s never had. She wonders what Guy says to Jaime during those patrols that helps him so much.
“Want another?” Guy asks, hand already reaching for another cookie.
Bianca slaps his hand away and points a warning finger at his nose. “Those have got to last through the entire family, half the neighborhood, and all of the friends you brought along.”
“Hey, Booster can’t eat that many cookies alone,” Guy says, and for a second, his face goes sad. It makes Bianca want to hug him and rub his back and tell him it’ll be okay.
“Get out of my kitchen,” Bianca says rather than acknowledge it. Guy will bluster his way past it if she tries. “This is a barbecue, not an inside party.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Guy says, saluting her with his beer bottle, and she shakes her head and smiles as he walks outside, calling out a greeting to someone as he does.
*
Milagro squeals with delight when Guy constructs her an oversized throne and a gigantic, pointy crown to go with it. She’s nearly eleven and constantly reminding her parents she doesn’t need their help, thank you, but Guy can still get her to act like she’s eight, and Bianca will be forever grateful for that.
“Your majesty,” Guy says, and holds out his hand, helping Milagro up into her seat. He sets the crown on her head and gives a little bow. “Where shall we go, my queen?”
“Space!” Milagro yelps. She stiffens, realizing her hard-demanded maturity is slipping. “Space would be lovely,” she says in a much more sedate voice. Behind Bianca, Jaime and Alberto snicker, and Bianca gives them both a warning look before they break the moment.
“Be back soon,” Guy says as he lifts off the ground, Milagro trailing behind. “We won’t go far.”
“Be careful,” Alberto calls after them, and Guy nods before they streak through the sky.
“And how are you?” Alberto asks Jaime as the three of them settle around the picnic table. It’s just them now, and Bianca is grateful for Guy understanding the need they have to continue to check on Jaime, even if he is twenty-one, nearly finished with undergraduate, pre-dental studies and drinking a beer as they start pelting him with questions.
“Your grades?” Alberto asks.
“Just fine,” Jaime assures him. “Once spring break is over, it’s gonna get nuts again, but everything’s fine.”
“Have you found an apartment?” Bianca asks, “Or have you decided to move back home so your father and I don’t feel so old?”
“I…have a place,” Jaime says. He takes a quick drink of his beer. “I mean, I will when I graduate. And it’s…it hasn’t been picked yet, but it’s there.”
Bianca shares a confused look with Alberto. He shrugs to show his own confusion. “Honey,” Bianca says, “is everything okay?” She watches him stare at his beer bottle, and even in the low glow of the patio lights and the citronella candles, she can see his blush.
“Son?” Alberto asks, placing a hand on Jaime’s arm. “Is there something you need to tell us?”
Jaime laughs in a nervous, high-pitched giggle that Bianca recognizes instantly. It’s the same laugh he used when he told them he was bisexual and had met a guy and was dating him and wanted to bring him home for Thanksgiving if they would be okay with that.
“You’ve met someone,” Bianca says. “And you’re moving in with…”
“Him,” Jaime supplies.
“Was that so hard?” Bianca asks, smiling. Jaime doesn’t smile back. He keeps staring at his beer bottle. “Jaime?”
Jaime mutters something so low Bianca doesn’t catch it. She looks at Alberto, and he shakes his head. He didn’t hear it either. “What was that?” Alberto asks.
“It’s…” He looks at his parents then back at his beer bottle. “It’s Guy,” he says quickly. “I’m moving in with Guy, and he’s getting a place down here, and he’s kind of totally my boyfriend.”
“What?!” Alberto shouts.
“…yeah,” Jaime says. “All of that.”
“What?!” Alberto repeats. His mouth moves for a few seconds, but no sound comes out.”
Bianca isn’t sure how to react. She watches Jaime peel the label from his beer bottle in long, messy strokes and can only see her little boy. It doesn’t matter that he’s taller than her, broader than her, about to graduate college and still finds time to be El Paso’s superhero. He is her little boy, and Guy Gardner is...
He is…
Guy Gardner is taking her 11-year-old baby girl on a trip to see the stars on a device that will only keep Milagro safe for as long as his willpower holds out. Guy Gardner is a man who sits and talks with Alberto about sports and cars and remembers to ask after the neighbors and the extended family. He is a man who has been showing up with small, thoughtful gifts for months, no doubt—Bianca suddenly realizes—to show his intentions, so that this moment with Jaime is easier not just for her and Alberto (who is still gaping but hasn’t let go of Jaime’s arm), but also for Jaime, who will be able to say, without a doubt, that Guy has been helping him figure out how to handle this.
“Well,” Bianca says as she stands up, “I suppose that means Guy won’t need me to make up the couch.”
“Mom?” Jaime asks.
“If you’re moving in together when you graduate, then I’m sure you’ve shared a bed already.”
“Mom!” Jaime yelps, scandalized.
She puts her hands on her hips and gives him a hard look. “Do you think I don’t know how it works, young man? Do you think you and your sister—”
“Sprouted from the ground thanks to magical fairy dust sprinkled on flowers!” Jaime shouts over here. “Magical fairy dust!”
Bianca can’t help but smile. “Go inside,” she says. “Your father and I have to talk about you.”
“I need to go on patrol,” Jaime replies. There’s the familiar whirr-clank as the scarab suits him up, and then he’s waving at both his parents and flying off into the night.
“Not his most graceful exit,” Bianca says, smiling at Alberto. He gives her a wavery smile in return, and she walks around the table to sit next to him. “Oh, honey,” she says, and she leans her head on his shoulder.
“I was just thinking,” Alberto says slowly, wrapping an arm around her, “of all the arguments against this I could make.”
“Oh?”
“He wasn’t supposed to like men this much,” Alberto says, “and that doesn’t work, because we told him when he told us that we were happy as long as he is happy.”
Bianca thinks over the day and the weeks before it and the years before that. The way Guy has always been there, encouraging Jaime, helping Jaime, listening to Jaime. She remembers the first time Guy came to visit specifically for Jaime’s help and how Jaime had been so proud he was needed. “I think he is,” she says, “I think Guy has made him happy for a long time.”
“Guy’s supposed to be his mentor,” Alberto tells her, “but that fails, too, because that was only in the beginning, really. They’ve been friends for a good, long time.”
“Yes,” Bianca agrees.
“The age difference,” Alberto continues, and he laughs, “but my parents were 18 years apart, and they’re not that far, so how I could even throw that stone?”
“You couldn’t,” Bianca tells him. She turns to face him and kisses him on the mouth. “Are you okay?”
“I…” Alberto shakes his head slowly. “I’m having to reorganize a few things,” he says. “That’s all.” He touches her cheek, and she leans into it. “What about you?”
“Oh, I’m sure it will hit me tomorrow,” she says, and they laugh softly together before standing up and walking into the house.
*
When Guy comes back with Milagro, Jaime is still gone. Guy stands in the threshold of the doorway, hands behind his back, scuffing one foot softly on the tile. Bianca is certain he doesn’t even know he’s doing it. “I should—” he starts to say when Milagro runs down the hallway to get ready for bed.
“Jaime told us,” Bianca says, and the way Guy stiffens makes her want to pull him close, just like earlier. “And Alberto and I are a bit shocked—”
“She’s understating!” Alberto calls from the living room.
“But you’re still very welcome in our home,” Bianca finishes. It breaks her heart a little to watch Guy’s face light up with hope. He’s never said much about his background, but Bianca’s pieced together what he has talked about and it’s not hard to paint the picture of an under-loved child in a very unhappy home with a hateful father and emotionally destroyed mother. She wonders what sort of reaction he was expecting.
“I didn’t…” Guy rubs a hand over the back of his neck and flushes bright red. “It wasn’t my idea,” he says very quickly, “and I tried to talk him out of it, but he’s stubborn, and I didn’t really want to talk him out of it.” There’s something soft and warm in his eyes, and Bianca hugs him before she knows what she’s doing.
“It’s okay,” she tells him, and he relaxes against her, hugging her back with the careful, loose hold of someone who’s not used to hugs. “We raised a smart son. We trust his instincts.”
“Thank you,” Guy says. He pulls away slowly and looks around Bianca at Alberto. “I—”
“I’m not talking about it right now,” Alberto says. “I’m having a beer. Grab one for yourself.”
Guy’s entire body goes limp with relief. He looks at Bianca, and she nods in encouragement. Guy gets two beers from the fridge and sits next to Alberto on the couch, constructing a bottle opener to pry off both caps. “Good barbecue today,” he says, and Alberto nods.
“I’m working on a new steak rub,” Alberto says, and Bianca leaves them to their conversation as she steps out on the patio to wait for Jaime to come home.
When he lands, he doesn’t immediately remove his helmet. “Hi,” he says.
“No hiding,” she tells him, and the helmet retracts automatically. “Your father and Guy are on the couch having a conversation about steak rub, and unless Milagro’s snuck out her window, she’s in bed. So you’re stuck with me for the moment.”
“Okay,” Jaime says, and he pulls her into a tight hug. She hugs back. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier,” he says close to her ear, “but Guy was freaked that you would freak and you wouldn’t let him come around anymore and think he’d tricked me or something.”
“We know you’re an adult,” Bianca tells him. “As much as it pains the both of us. And we like Guy. And we’re glad you’re happy together.”
“We are,” Jaime assures her, and the way his face lights up, she knows it’s absolutely true. “It’s really good.”
“It better be,” she says and pulls on his arm. “Come on inside,” she says. “I’ll make us some tea.”
Jaime follows her in, and Bianca watches the way Guy looks over, then pauses, and then stands up and walks over. He touches Jaime’s arm, and the armor recedes around his hand. “Everything’s good,” Jaime tells him.
“Okay,” Guy says. He takes a half-step closer, then steps back. “Patrol?”
“Just a mugging and some drunk guys fighting over car keys. I flew ‘em home and left them puking on their lawn.”
“Jaime!” Bianca says, scandalized, but Guy’s laugh overrides her. She looks at Alberto, expecting him to help in the reprimand of being mean like that, but Alberto’s grinning at Jaime and Guy, who are laughing together and leaning towards each other, and Bianca walks towards Alberto. She knows when they kiss by the way Alberto looks away, a determined look on his face.
“If I don’t look, it doesn’t happen, right?” he asks.
“I don’t think it’s how that works,” she says, curling up next to him. “But you can kiss me to forget about it.”
“All right,” and Alberto kisses her slowly, tipping her chin up with his fingers.
“Fairy dust!” Jaime yells, but they ignore him. “We’re going to bed!” Jaime yells, and Bianca waves him away without breaking the kiss.
“I think we won,” Alberto murmurs when they’re down the hallway.
“We’re the parents,” Bianca tells him. “We always win.”
*
The next morning, Guy and Jaime stumble down the hallway together, Guy’s hand on Jaime’s back, and Jaime wearing a T-shirt that is exactly Guy-sized too big for him. Milagro watches them for half the meal, eyeing them over her orange juice and stealing glances as she cuts into her pancakes.
“Are you two doing it?” she asks, and Guy spits coffee halfway across the table.
“Milagro!” Alberto scolds, and she looks at him with the wounded pride of all kids who think they are entirely too mature for such a tone.
“What?” she asks. “Jaime’s wearing Guy’s shirt. I know what that means!”
“And how, exactly, do you know what that means?” Bianca demands to know.
“TV,” Milagro says, and this time Guy nearly chokes on his coffee when he starts to laugh.
“Sorry,” Guy wheezes when Bianca gives him a look. “I couldn’t help it. That is class—” He cuts himself off as her glower deepens, and he looks at Milagro. “Is that okay?” he asks, and he’s so sincere and concerned Bianca forgives him immediately. “If Jaime and I are together?”
Milagro thinks it over. “That makes you like my brother, right?”
“Sure,” Guy agrees.
“Whatever,” Milagro says with a shrug. “Just don’t kiss or junk.”
“Why not?” Jaime asks. “Is it groooosss?”
“Yes,” Milgaro says. “Because you’re gross.”
“Know what’s grosser?” Jaime asks.
“What?”
“I had to see Mom and Dad kiss last night. A lot. Like making out. On the couch.”
“Ahhh!” Milagro squeezes her eyes shut and sticks her fingers in her ears. “Not listening! Not listening!”
“Shouldn’t you have outgrown this by now?” Alberto asks Jaime, grinning.
“Never,” Jaime declares.
“It defeats the purpose of being a big brother,” Guy adds.
And in that moment, as Guy joins in the teasing and slings his arm around the back of Jaime’s chair, the last of Bianca’s reservations fall away, and she reaches over and tousles Guy’s hair, just like she’d tousle Jaime’s. When he grins at her, she feels like a very proud mother, and a very good friend and smiles back.
Author: Perpetual Motion
Fandom: DC Comics (Green Lantern Corps/Blue Beetle 2.0)
Pairing: Guy Gardner/Jaime Reyes
Rating: PG
Summary: Bianca is forever trying not to mother Guy, and then Jaime tells her they're together.
Dis: Lies and Bullshit.
Author's Notes: While this particular story is not
dytabytes fault, the idea of Guy/Jaime is partially her fault. Because she helped me hash out the basic idea, and off my brain went. So, totally, kind of her fault. I am assure she does not care a whit. Also, self-betaed, so have a typo hunt!Adding on Family
By Perpetual Motion
She doesn’t mean to mother him. He’s a full-grown man, for goodness sake, and she knows he can take care of himself, but there’s something about him that begs for motherly affection, so whenever Guy flies into town, Bianca finds herself treating him like one of her own children.
“What did I say about those cookies?” she asks when she finds him in the kitchen during a family-and-friends-and-heroes-in-civilian-clothes barbecue. Guy has a cookie in his mouth and another in his hand.
“They’re for dessert,” Guy answers. He glances down at the second cookie, then holds it out to her. “They’re really good.”
And suddenly they’re contemporaries again, sharing an adults-only moment as the sounds of the kids yelling in the backyard carries in through the open back door. She takes the cookie and leans against the counter, eyes him carefully as he dusts crumbs from the front of his shirt and takes a drink of his beer. “How are you?” she asks.
“Pretty good,” he says, and she believes him. He’s started coming almost regularly, every few weeks or so. He always shows up with a small gift. Glowing blue rocks from some planet far away or wine from an old supplier from when he had a bar on Earth. He brings Milagro dolls from other worlds and stories about space men. He talks sports and cars with Alberto, and he always goes on patrol with Jaime. They’ve struck up a friendship that Bianca is glad Jaime has. It’s given him a measure of confidence in himself he’s never had. She wonders what Guy says to Jaime during those patrols that helps him so much.
“Want another?” Guy asks, hand already reaching for another cookie.
Bianca slaps his hand away and points a warning finger at his nose. “Those have got to last through the entire family, half the neighborhood, and all of the friends you brought along.”
“Hey, Booster can’t eat that many cookies alone,” Guy says, and for a second, his face goes sad. It makes Bianca want to hug him and rub his back and tell him it’ll be okay.
“Get out of my kitchen,” Bianca says rather than acknowledge it. Guy will bluster his way past it if she tries. “This is a barbecue, not an inside party.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Guy says, saluting her with his beer bottle, and she shakes her head and smiles as he walks outside, calling out a greeting to someone as he does.
*
Milagro squeals with delight when Guy constructs her an oversized throne and a gigantic, pointy crown to go with it. She’s nearly eleven and constantly reminding her parents she doesn’t need their help, thank you, but Guy can still get her to act like she’s eight, and Bianca will be forever grateful for that.
“Your majesty,” Guy says, and holds out his hand, helping Milagro up into her seat. He sets the crown on her head and gives a little bow. “Where shall we go, my queen?”
“Space!” Milagro yelps. She stiffens, realizing her hard-demanded maturity is slipping. “Space would be lovely,” she says in a much more sedate voice. Behind Bianca, Jaime and Alberto snicker, and Bianca gives them both a warning look before they break the moment.
“Be back soon,” Guy says as he lifts off the ground, Milagro trailing behind. “We won’t go far.”
“Be careful,” Alberto calls after them, and Guy nods before they streak through the sky.
“And how are you?” Alberto asks Jaime as the three of them settle around the picnic table. It’s just them now, and Bianca is grateful for Guy understanding the need they have to continue to check on Jaime, even if he is twenty-one, nearly finished with undergraduate, pre-dental studies and drinking a beer as they start pelting him with questions.
“Your grades?” Alberto asks.
“Just fine,” Jaime assures him. “Once spring break is over, it’s gonna get nuts again, but everything’s fine.”
“Have you found an apartment?” Bianca asks, “Or have you decided to move back home so your father and I don’t feel so old?”
“I…have a place,” Jaime says. He takes a quick drink of his beer. “I mean, I will when I graduate. And it’s…it hasn’t been picked yet, but it’s there.”
Bianca shares a confused look with Alberto. He shrugs to show his own confusion. “Honey,” Bianca says, “is everything okay?” She watches him stare at his beer bottle, and even in the low glow of the patio lights and the citronella candles, she can see his blush.
“Son?” Alberto asks, placing a hand on Jaime’s arm. “Is there something you need to tell us?”
Jaime laughs in a nervous, high-pitched giggle that Bianca recognizes instantly. It’s the same laugh he used when he told them he was bisexual and had met a guy and was dating him and wanted to bring him home for Thanksgiving if they would be okay with that.
“You’ve met someone,” Bianca says. “And you’re moving in with…”
“Him,” Jaime supplies.
“Was that so hard?” Bianca asks, smiling. Jaime doesn’t smile back. He keeps staring at his beer bottle. “Jaime?”
Jaime mutters something so low Bianca doesn’t catch it. She looks at Alberto, and he shakes his head. He didn’t hear it either. “What was that?” Alberto asks.
“It’s…” He looks at his parents then back at his beer bottle. “It’s Guy,” he says quickly. “I’m moving in with Guy, and he’s getting a place down here, and he’s kind of totally my boyfriend.”
“What?!” Alberto shouts.
“…yeah,” Jaime says. “All of that.”
“What?!” Alberto repeats. His mouth moves for a few seconds, but no sound comes out.”
Bianca isn’t sure how to react. She watches Jaime peel the label from his beer bottle in long, messy strokes and can only see her little boy. It doesn’t matter that he’s taller than her, broader than her, about to graduate college and still finds time to be El Paso’s superhero. He is her little boy, and Guy Gardner is...
He is…
Guy Gardner is taking her 11-year-old baby girl on a trip to see the stars on a device that will only keep Milagro safe for as long as his willpower holds out. Guy Gardner is a man who sits and talks with Alberto about sports and cars and remembers to ask after the neighbors and the extended family. He is a man who has been showing up with small, thoughtful gifts for months, no doubt—Bianca suddenly realizes—to show his intentions, so that this moment with Jaime is easier not just for her and Alberto (who is still gaping but hasn’t let go of Jaime’s arm), but also for Jaime, who will be able to say, without a doubt, that Guy has been helping him figure out how to handle this.
“Well,” Bianca says as she stands up, “I suppose that means Guy won’t need me to make up the couch.”
“Mom?” Jaime asks.
“If you’re moving in together when you graduate, then I’m sure you’ve shared a bed already.”
“Mom!” Jaime yelps, scandalized.
She puts her hands on her hips and gives him a hard look. “Do you think I don’t know how it works, young man? Do you think you and your sister—”
“Sprouted from the ground thanks to magical fairy dust sprinkled on flowers!” Jaime shouts over here. “Magical fairy dust!”
Bianca can’t help but smile. “Go inside,” she says. “Your father and I have to talk about you.”
“I need to go on patrol,” Jaime replies. There’s the familiar whirr-clank as the scarab suits him up, and then he’s waving at both his parents and flying off into the night.
“Not his most graceful exit,” Bianca says, smiling at Alberto. He gives her a wavery smile in return, and she walks around the table to sit next to him. “Oh, honey,” she says, and she leans her head on his shoulder.
“I was just thinking,” Alberto says slowly, wrapping an arm around her, “of all the arguments against this I could make.”
“Oh?”
“He wasn’t supposed to like men this much,” Alberto says, “and that doesn’t work, because we told him when he told us that we were happy as long as he is happy.”
Bianca thinks over the day and the weeks before it and the years before that. The way Guy has always been there, encouraging Jaime, helping Jaime, listening to Jaime. She remembers the first time Guy came to visit specifically for Jaime’s help and how Jaime had been so proud he was needed. “I think he is,” she says, “I think Guy has made him happy for a long time.”
“Guy’s supposed to be his mentor,” Alberto tells her, “but that fails, too, because that was only in the beginning, really. They’ve been friends for a good, long time.”
“Yes,” Bianca agrees.
“The age difference,” Alberto continues, and he laughs, “but my parents were 18 years apart, and they’re not that far, so how I could even throw that stone?”
“You couldn’t,” Bianca tells him. She turns to face him and kisses him on the mouth. “Are you okay?”
“I…” Alberto shakes his head slowly. “I’m having to reorganize a few things,” he says. “That’s all.” He touches her cheek, and she leans into it. “What about you?”
“Oh, I’m sure it will hit me tomorrow,” she says, and they laugh softly together before standing up and walking into the house.
*
When Guy comes back with Milagro, Jaime is still gone. Guy stands in the threshold of the doorway, hands behind his back, scuffing one foot softly on the tile. Bianca is certain he doesn’t even know he’s doing it. “I should—” he starts to say when Milagro runs down the hallway to get ready for bed.
“Jaime told us,” Bianca says, and the way Guy stiffens makes her want to pull him close, just like earlier. “And Alberto and I are a bit shocked—”
“She’s understating!” Alberto calls from the living room.
“But you’re still very welcome in our home,” Bianca finishes. It breaks her heart a little to watch Guy’s face light up with hope. He’s never said much about his background, but Bianca’s pieced together what he has talked about and it’s not hard to paint the picture of an under-loved child in a very unhappy home with a hateful father and emotionally destroyed mother. She wonders what sort of reaction he was expecting.
“I didn’t…” Guy rubs a hand over the back of his neck and flushes bright red. “It wasn’t my idea,” he says very quickly, “and I tried to talk him out of it, but he’s stubborn, and I didn’t really want to talk him out of it.” There’s something soft and warm in his eyes, and Bianca hugs him before she knows what she’s doing.
“It’s okay,” she tells him, and he relaxes against her, hugging her back with the careful, loose hold of someone who’s not used to hugs. “We raised a smart son. We trust his instincts.”
“Thank you,” Guy says. He pulls away slowly and looks around Bianca at Alberto. “I—”
“I’m not talking about it right now,” Alberto says. “I’m having a beer. Grab one for yourself.”
Guy’s entire body goes limp with relief. He looks at Bianca, and she nods in encouragement. Guy gets two beers from the fridge and sits next to Alberto on the couch, constructing a bottle opener to pry off both caps. “Good barbecue today,” he says, and Alberto nods.
“I’m working on a new steak rub,” Alberto says, and Bianca leaves them to their conversation as she steps out on the patio to wait for Jaime to come home.
When he lands, he doesn’t immediately remove his helmet. “Hi,” he says.
“No hiding,” she tells him, and the helmet retracts automatically. “Your father and Guy are on the couch having a conversation about steak rub, and unless Milagro’s snuck out her window, she’s in bed. So you’re stuck with me for the moment.”
“Okay,” Jaime says, and he pulls her into a tight hug. She hugs back. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier,” he says close to her ear, “but Guy was freaked that you would freak and you wouldn’t let him come around anymore and think he’d tricked me or something.”
“We know you’re an adult,” Bianca tells him. “As much as it pains the both of us. And we like Guy. And we’re glad you’re happy together.”
“We are,” Jaime assures her, and the way his face lights up, she knows it’s absolutely true. “It’s really good.”
“It better be,” she says and pulls on his arm. “Come on inside,” she says. “I’ll make us some tea.”
Jaime follows her in, and Bianca watches the way Guy looks over, then pauses, and then stands up and walks over. He touches Jaime’s arm, and the armor recedes around his hand. “Everything’s good,” Jaime tells him.
“Okay,” Guy says. He takes a half-step closer, then steps back. “Patrol?”
“Just a mugging and some drunk guys fighting over car keys. I flew ‘em home and left them puking on their lawn.”
“Jaime!” Bianca says, scandalized, but Guy’s laugh overrides her. She looks at Alberto, expecting him to help in the reprimand of being mean like that, but Alberto’s grinning at Jaime and Guy, who are laughing together and leaning towards each other, and Bianca walks towards Alberto. She knows when they kiss by the way Alberto looks away, a determined look on his face.
“If I don’t look, it doesn’t happen, right?” he asks.
“I don’t think it’s how that works,” she says, curling up next to him. “But you can kiss me to forget about it.”
“All right,” and Alberto kisses her slowly, tipping her chin up with his fingers.
“Fairy dust!” Jaime yells, but they ignore him. “We’re going to bed!” Jaime yells, and Bianca waves him away without breaking the kiss.
“I think we won,” Alberto murmurs when they’re down the hallway.
“We’re the parents,” Bianca tells him. “We always win.”
*
The next morning, Guy and Jaime stumble down the hallway together, Guy’s hand on Jaime’s back, and Jaime wearing a T-shirt that is exactly Guy-sized too big for him. Milagro watches them for half the meal, eyeing them over her orange juice and stealing glances as she cuts into her pancakes.
“Are you two doing it?” she asks, and Guy spits coffee halfway across the table.
“Milagro!” Alberto scolds, and she looks at him with the wounded pride of all kids who think they are entirely too mature for such a tone.
“What?” she asks. “Jaime’s wearing Guy’s shirt. I know what that means!”
“And how, exactly, do you know what that means?” Bianca demands to know.
“TV,” Milagro says, and this time Guy nearly chokes on his coffee when he starts to laugh.
“Sorry,” Guy wheezes when Bianca gives him a look. “I couldn’t help it. That is class—” He cuts himself off as her glower deepens, and he looks at Milagro. “Is that okay?” he asks, and he’s so sincere and concerned Bianca forgives him immediately. “If Jaime and I are together?”
Milagro thinks it over. “That makes you like my brother, right?”
“Sure,” Guy agrees.
“Whatever,” Milagro says with a shrug. “Just don’t kiss or junk.”
“Why not?” Jaime asks. “Is it groooosss?”
“Yes,” Milgaro says. “Because you’re gross.”
“Know what’s grosser?” Jaime asks.
“What?”
“I had to see Mom and Dad kiss last night. A lot. Like making out. On the couch.”
“Ahhh!” Milagro squeezes her eyes shut and sticks her fingers in her ears. “Not listening! Not listening!”
“Shouldn’t you have outgrown this by now?” Alberto asks Jaime, grinning.
“Never,” Jaime declares.
“It defeats the purpose of being a big brother,” Guy adds.
And in that moment, as Guy joins in the teasing and slings his arm around the back of Jaime’s chair, the last of Bianca’s reservations fall away, and she reaches over and tousles Guy’s hair, just like she’d tousle Jaime’s. When he grins at her, she feels like a very proud mother, and a very good friend and smiles back.
