A Boy Called Cin (20 page)

"Ready?" Cin holds out a hand to help him off the table. Tom climbs down gingerly, still surprised it held his weight and not wanting to make it collapse at the last minute. He lets Cin guide him to the bedroom mirror, and while he doesn't close his eyes, he doesn't look directly into it straight away.

"You should look at yourself," Cin instructs. "Or this is sort of a waste of time."

After taking a deep breath, Tom looks up and into the mirror. It takes him a few moments to really parse what he's seeing, but once he does, he can't help but smile. He's covered in brightly-colored, abstract shapes, as beautifully painted as anything Cin might spend weeks working on, as much loving attention to detail. The room is warm, but he shivers anyway.

"Wow." He keeps beaming at his own reflection. Cin moves to stand behind him and admires his work, both in the mirror and on Tom himself.

"You're always this beautiful to me," he says softly. Tom swallows and just keeps looking at himself. He hasn't looked at his own body for this long in years. Decades, maybe.

"But this isn't what other people are gonna see." Tom appreciates what Cin's trying to do, but it doesn't change the fact that it's only a reflection of Cin's perception.

"Do you need them to?"

Tom opens his mouth to answer before he thinks about the question, closing it again before he can say anything. Does he need anyone else to think he looks good, beside Cin? Not if Cin's going to let Tom keep him.

"You sticking around a while longer?" Tom asks nervously.

Cin wraps his arms around him from behind, framing a spray of color on Tom's belly with his hands. "Until you get sick of me." He kisses Tom's shoulder.

"You're gonna have a pretty long wait."

"I'm okay with that." Cin kisses him again. "Shower time."

It's not until Tom's watching swirling colors circle the shower drain, Cin washing his artwork away gently, that it really hits Tom that Cin loves him. Loves him as much as he loves Cin. This ridiculous boy with all of the life and vibrancy and talent Cin has actually wants to share his life with him, because they're in love.

With that thought in mind, he's happy to let Rachel get whatever photos she wants of the two of them.

"Hello, my little Cinnamon Quill." Poppy pokes her head around the corner into the room that used to be Tom's totally-unused study, but now serves as Cin's work space. "I come bearing gifts."

Cin sets down the stick of charcoal he's been working with and rushes over to hug Poppy, pausing just before he touches her and holding his hands up to show her that they're covered in black powder that will definitely stain the bright yellow dress she has on. He leans in to kiss her cheek instead when she bends down for him.

"Come out into the kitchen and I'll wash up." Cin ducks past her. "Are those what I think they are?"

"If you think they're legal papers for you to sign, then they're exactly what you think they are."

Cin washes his hands thoroughly before flicking on the coffee machine and getting out two cups. "I can't thank you enough for doing all this for me. I would've been lost without you."

"Honey,
everyone
would be lost without me." Poppy beams at him from where she's setting out papers on the kitchen table. "I'm just that good."

"That you are." Cin makes two cups of coffee—his own black with one sugar, Poppy's with cream, two sugars, and a shot of hazelnut syrup they keep specifically for her—and brings them over to the table before sitting in front of the pile of paperwork that Poppy's set in front of the chair next to her.

"We've got everything here that you need. Once you've read all this and signed your soul over to me, we can get a new birth certificate. The rest of it is just stuff to get new IDs issued once we have the certificate. I figured I'd do it all at once. It's lucky you're an Iowa boy. They make it easy for us." Poppy takes up her coffee cup and breathes in the scent with a happy sigh.

"Wow." Cin turns to stare at Poppy. "You're the best."

"I can't argue with that. Start signing, so we can move on to gossiping."

"I can gossip and sign at the same time." Cin takes up the pen that Poppy's left out for him and looks for places to initial and sign on the papers in front of him. Poppy has them all marked with little sticky note flags so he doesn't actually have to read it. Any other time, he would, but he trusts that Poppy wouldn't ask him to sign anything that wasn't entirely to his benefit.

"I saw the article Rachel wrote about you two. I expected Tom to pour his little heart out, but I didn't expect it of
you
."

"Yeah, well." Cin can feel himself blushing. He turns over the piece of paper he's just finished with and doesn't look up to meet Poppy's eyes. "I love him. I didn't really realize how much until Rachel was asking me about it."

Poppy whistles lowly. "This from the boy who wasn't sure it'd last past that first summer."

"Tom's been good to me. But more importantly, I can imagine myself staying with him. Forever, even," Cin says without looking at Poppy. He doesn't want to know about it if she doesn't think that's a good idea. He wants to believe a little longer that he and Tom have a chance.

"Oh." Poppy goes quiet. Cin's not sure whether that's a good or a bad sign.

"How…" Cin swallows, decides against saying anything, and then opens his mouth anyway. "How does Tom feel about marriage? As an institution, I mean. In general?"

"You know how little girls are supposed to plan their fairytale weddings? Tom used to do that. Not obsessively, but I think it's one of his life goals to be married one day. Honestly, I was a little afraid you were opposed. Should I be dropping hints?"

"No." Cin looks up at Poppy, eyes wide. "No, no. Please don't. I just wanted to know."

"Well." Poppy stands up to take her empty coffee cup to the sink. "For future reference, I look great in teal. When you're picking colors."

Cin signs the last paper. "I'll remember that."

*~*~*

No amount of knowing that he doesn't need to be nervous about this particular interview is making Cin any
less
nervous as he waits to be called into Ms. Wong's office. He knows he's practically being handed this job if he wants it. It's a formality at best. But that hasn't calmed down the swarm of angry bees in his stomach and he's seriously thinking he should have taken up Tom's offer of hand-holding, but he wants to do this by himself.

Tom might have the contacts, but everyone's been rushing to assure him that they wouldn't be interested in him if he wasn't good. Cin's not sure about that, but considering the job market is what it is, he's happy just to have a shot.

"Cin?" Ms. Wong, who Cin hasn't met yet, turns out to be a pretty woman with dark, straight hair and a half-smile that Cin would like to paint. She's younger than he expected, too. Cin follows her into her office and waits as she closes the door behind them.

"Please, call me Lisa." She smiles before she sits down. "I love your work. And I believe you have a friend already working for us?"

"Rachel Moss, yeah. We've been best friends forever and she always has good things to say about working here."

"And we just ran a piece on you and that guy you're settling for." Lisa winks. "How is Tom? I haven't seen him in person in a while."

"He's well. Working too hard as usual. He has nothing but nice things to say about you, too. That's why I'm here."

"You do seem to have a lot of faith in us. I've seen that portrait of Tom you did, and I loved it. I take it that's the rest of your portfolio?"

"Everything I thought was relevant." Cin hands it over. He realizes as he does that he really wants this job, more than he thought he had. He's been doing freelance stuff and commissions for Tom's friends in the meantime, but he wants something that's a challenge. The job might be practically being handed to him, but he'll still have to do the work here.

Also, he doesn't really want to paint anyone else's cat. Not that he's got a problem with cats; it's just not really his preferred thing to do.

"I know your focus has been painting and drawing and this is more design-heavy, but I'm seeing some pieces in here that are right in line with our style. And I've been wanting to work some more illustration into the magazine. I think you know this job is yours if you want it."

"And believe me when I say I want it," Cin says seriously.

"Well, I'm willing to take you on to begin with, but if you want to
stay
on, you'll have to prove yourself. Are you ready for that?"

"I hope I am." Cin licks his lips. "I mean to do everything in my power to be ready for this. It's everything I've dreamed of since I was in high school."

"I think you're gonna do just fine. Start Monday?" She offers her hand.

Cin isn't sure he can really believe his luck, but he takes her hand anyway and shakes it. "Monday would be great. Thank you."

"You're in shock." Lisa smiles again. It's easy to imagine her having coffee with Poppy. "That's okay. You should go call Tom and make him take you somewhere nice for dinner to celebrate. Be here at eight-thirty Monday morning so we can get you settled in at a desk. Congratulations."

"Th-thank you," Cin says again. "Wow. I don't know what else to say."

"Say you'll see me Monday morning." Lisa stands up and moves toward the door. Cin moves to follow her a second too late, still stunned at how well today had gone.

"I'll see you Monday morning. Eight-thirty." Cin nods and holds his hand out again, and Lisa takes it straight away. "I'll make you proud."

"I know you will. See you then." Lisa opens the door and ushers him out, still smiling. Cin's barely outside before he's pulling his phone out to text Tom that he got the job.

He texts Rachel, too, and then Poppy. His whole family. This is what he always imagined getting his first real job would feel like. What he imagined his
life
would be like.

Congrats. Dinner?
Tom texts back first.

Absolutely. Lisa says hello.

I hope you said hello back.

Cin could have done all this himself. He knows he could. But he's glad he's had the help all the same.

I told her you'd be at the company Christmas party
.

As your trophy boyfriend? Can't wait
.

*~*~*

When Cin joked about the company Christmas party, he hadn't actually expected Tom to show up, but here they were, each with a drink in hand and getting along well with everyone. Tom knows a few people here, aside from Cin, Rachel, and Lisa, and Cin has stopped minding that everyone is fascinated by his boyfriend.

They're flying down to Oregon tomorrow to spend Christmas there, in the place Tom has started calling their real home. Poppy's coming with them and Rachel promised to join them for the New Year after she spends Christmas with her folks. In the meantime, Cin is slightly drunk and euphorically happy, enjoying himself among the colleagues he'd never expected to have for the job he'd never expected to do so well at.

Tom appears behind him and wraps his arms around Cin's waist, also slightly drunk and giggling into his hair. "I love you."

"I love you too." Cin takes both of Tom's hands and links their fingers together. "Thank you for coming with me."

"This is how we do things. I follow you around to parties. Like a huge, awkward puppy."

"You're not awkward." Cin tilts his head back to look up at Tom and leans in when Tom dips down to kiss him.

"Can we go sit down? Somewhere a little quieter?"

"Definitely."

Cin ushers Tom to a quiet couch settle on and curls up next to him. "Merry Christmas."

"It's not really Christmas yet." Tom kisses his hair softly.

"Oh, right. That's not actually what I intended to say." Cin turns to look up at him. "You really are pretty. You could easily be most eligible bachelor again next year."

"Can't. I've got this boyfriend I'm kinda attached to."

"Yeah. I like you being attached to me." Cin reaches out for Tom's hand. "That's the thing, actually."

Tom frowns. "What thing?"

"Marry me." Cin keeps looking up at Tom steadily. Tom blinks at him, comprehension slowly dawning over him.

"Really?"

Cin leans in to kiss him. "Really," he murmurs against Tom's lips. "Marry me."

"Hell, yes." Tom grins. "Tomorrow, if you want. Actually, we could probably fly down to Vegas and be married by tomorrow. What time is it?"

Cin puts a finger to Tom's lips. "This will shock you, but I'd like a real wedding."

"Really?" Tom's vocabulary might be suffering right now, but his eyes light up like a five-year-old on Christmas morning. "Because I would love to have a ridiculous, over-the-top wedding with you and I
will
get carried away and it'll probably take like a week to actually do."

"I'm okay with that. Poppy told me you've been planning your wedding since you were little."

"She
knew
?" Tom looks betrayed until Cin kisses him again.

"No. She had no idea I was going to ask. No one did. But I've been thinking about it for a really long time. I want you to marry me. You still haven't actually said yes."

"Yes," Tom says almost before Cin's finished. "Yes. Yes times a thousand."

"This calls for celebratory sex." Cin leans in to kiss Tom again. "So we need to call a cab, because I'm not going to be the guy who gets busted having sex at the office Christmas party."

"Cin!" Rachel appears around the doorway. "Stop slobbering over your boyfriend and come dance with me."

"He's not my boyfriend anymore."

Rachel's face falls. Cin grins up at her in return. "He's my fiancé."

Rachel squeals, covering her mouth belatedly. "He asked you to marry him?" she asks behind her fingers.

"I asked him to marry me."

"Cin wears the pants in this relationship," Tom adds. Cin chuckles.

"I'll let you guys celebrate in peace." Rachel looks between them, then darts over to give Cin a hug. Cin hugs back enthusiastically until Rachel breaks off, then giggles as she moves to hug Tom. After another brief squeal and kissing Cin's cheek, she disappears back into the main office. Presumably to tell everyone else there.