It was a lot to absorb. I didn’t know what kind of crazy-ass shit my brother had been looking up online or how credible these outside opportunities were, but what I took from his spiel was that he was on board with this nonrelationship relationship thing and didn’t want it to end.

Neither did I.

I’d always loved my brother, but somewhere along the way, I’d fallen in love with him and couldn’t imagine being with anyone else. The thought of him with anyone else made me stabby.

“Can we talk more about this? I think that’s the landlord there.”

A guy handling a large set of keys followed the path to the front door of the building.

Asher took my hand, drawing my attention back. “Just tell me we can do this together. Tell me you’re on the same page as me.”

I glanced down the road in both directions before taking Asher’s chin and tugging him forward for a kiss. It was soft and gentle and exposed my whole heart. “I’m with you. Always. We’ll figure it out.” Before he could pull back, I laced my fingers through his hair and held his forehead to mine. “I love you, you know. You’ve been a part of me since we shared a womb. I don’t want that to ever change.”

Asher’s smile was brilliant. “I love you too.”

And he didn’t need to clarify that his love was the same kind I felt for him. Our love was more. It was all-consuming. It was special and unique. It was ours.

The landlord was a tubby man who looked like he wanted to be anywhere else on a Sunday than showing us this apartment. He gave us a half-ass tour, but it was enough. Asher—ever the squabbler—talked him down on the rent too.

By the time we left, we’d signed the lease with the expectation of moving in on the first of the month—the weekend after our next shooting session. That gave Asher less than three weeks to break the news to our parents.

“What are you going to say to them?” I asked as Asher drove us downtown to the movie theater.

“I’m telling them they fucked up kicking you out, and I’m not living without you in my life. If they can’t accept they have a gay son, then I can’t accept I have homophobic parents.”

“Are you sure? This means losing everything.”

Asher threaded our fingers together. “No, it means gaining everything. You. I’m positive.”

We ended up at the early show with a big bucket of popcorn and an extra-large Coke, which we set aside in favor of a dark back row seat where we did dirty things to each other’s wieners where no one could see us. It was crazy and fun and naughty and ours.