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holiday.
    He watched his mother vanish into the kitchen and
    pointed toward the right, letting Lance know which bedroom
    he intended to take. They were halfway up the stairs before
    Lance stopped and turned around.
    “Did she really want us to take separate bedrooms?”
    Lance’s eyes were big, and his olive-toned skin looked pale.
    “I think that’s what I heard, yes. But I have a hard time
    believing it. And I certainly have no intention of following
    that ‘instruction’.” The more Magnus thought about it, the
    more he wondered what had prompted his mother to say
    such a thing.
    “You don’t?” Lance looked hopeful.
    “Of course I don’t!” Magnus shook his head and pointed
    his chin upwards to indicate he wanted to get to their
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    bedroom. He wasn’t going to have this discussion on the
    staircase. “You’re my partner, and we haven’t spent a single
    night apart since the night you moved into our bedroom just
    before Christmas. I don’t intend to start now.”
    “But you didn’t say anything when your mother brought
    it up.” Lance turned back around and continued up the
    stairs, walking into the front bedroom that had once been
    Magnus’s.
    “I wasn’t about to start a discussion with her in the
    foyer with Jakob right under our noses.” Magnus put their
    suitcases on the bed and opened them so they could
    unpack. “But we’re definitely going to have it out with her as
    soon as we’re settled in.”
    Lance had stopped next to the door and was looking
    around the room with wide eyes. Luckily, it had been
    redecorated since Magnus had left home. Sharing his
    childhood posters and various trophies from school
    competitions would have been very embarrassing.
    “Wow, this is a nice room. Was it always yours?” Lance
    moved forward and put their travel bags onto the floor next
    to the bed.
    “Yes, it was. But I like this new look better.” Magnus
    started putting clothes into the walnut wardrobe and
    matching dresser.
    “That’s
    too
    bad.”
    Lance
    grinned.
    “About
    the
    redecoration, I mean. I would’ve loved to have seen your
    childhood room.”
    “I bet!” Magnus grinned back. “But you wouldn’t have
    been very comfortable in the narrow bed, especially not with
    what I hope we’ll be getting up to over the next two weeks.”
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    “You don’t mean that!” Lance looked scandalized.
    “Surely not with your parents in the same house.”
    “Why not? It’s a big house. I’m sure they won’t hear
    anything, especially since their bedroom is in the other half
    of the house and downstairs.” Magnus wasn’t going to avoid
    touching his lover just because he was staying at home.
    “Magnus!” Lance sat down on the bed, staring at him.
    “What? My parents don’t run my life. In fact, they
    haven’t had that right ever since they gave me a hard time
    when I told them I was gay. I’ve forgiven them, but I decided
    never to let them make decisions or determine what I do ever
    again.” Magnus sat down next to Lance and took his hand.
    “You and Jakob are my life now, and nobody can make us do
    anything we’re not comfortable with. And that includes
    sleeping arrangements.”
    “Okay.” Lance sighed, a tentative smile on his lips.
    “Thank you. I don’t think I could sleep without you next to
    me, especially in a strange house.”
    “No problem. I’m not going anywhere, and the sooner
    my mother understands that, the better. In fact, why don’t
    we finish unpacking so we can go downstairs and talk to
    her?” Magnus lifted Lance’s hand, turned it around, and
    pressed his lips against the soft skin on the inside of his
    lover’s wrist.
    Lance nodded, and they finished settling their stuff in
    record time. It looked like they were both anxious to get this
    misunderstanding cleared up. That was surely all it was.
    By the time they made it downstairs and into the
    kitchen,