This is a temporary adventure, a fantasy that Jack and I get to create for ourselves.

Jack’s parents were nice enough to invite Mom and Taylor to stay for a few days, too, so that our families could get to know each other. Callum isn’t around. He quit sometime in January, and Jack hasn’t heard from him since. Though he doesn’t talk about Cal at all, I get the sense that he misses his friend and that he hasn’t quite processed his feelings, but I don’t press him. When—and if—he’s ready to talk about it, I’ll be here.

Thunder rumbles in the distance.

“Told you.”

“All right, no need to get cocky,” I say.

His fingers find mine. “You wish.”

“There’ll be plenty of time for that.”

He takes a deep breath. “You decide what you’re working on with McPherson yet?”

“I think I wanna tell the Witch’s story. Who doesn’t love a misunderstood drag queen? But we’ll see what she thinks.”

“She’s going to love it.” He lets go of my hand and leans forward. A hush falls over the trees, and it feels like the forest around us is collectively holding its breath. He sucks air into his lungs and slowly breathes out. “Hear that?”

The sky is dark now, between the missing sun and the gathering clouds, and straight ahead, over the mountains, is a gauzy haze that looks like it’s moving toward us. The sound is low at first, a pitter-patter that’s barely noticeable, but in just a few short moments, it washes over the Reid property like a tidal wave.

We’re protected by the porch, but the rain comes swift and hard.

Lightning bolts streak across the sky.

Thunder cracks immediately.

We’re right under the storm.

Jack looks at me.

We are the storm.

Wordlessly, he holds me as we watch and listen to the titans dance around us.

When I would daydream of princes and knights and magic, I never imagined this. It may not be happily ever after, but what is? Regardless of what comes next for Jack and me, I know that I love him, and that’s enough. But more than that, I love me. The whole of me, the nonbinary person with masculine energy, the person with a lifetime of work ahead to love his body, the person who uses art to show the world exactly who Chase Arthur is.

Which is kind of the whole point, right?

This is the adventure.

Once upon a time, Jack and I were two people who were sort of lost when we met, found ways to love ourselves, and then each other. And then lived.

we exist

in the breath between

lightning and thunder

where the end is a beginning

that starts with three simple words

a poem by your name that goes

I love you

I love you

I love you