04/07 . 10:03pm

The night before Easter Sunday, and Zane already felt like he was going to die.

Last time he'd been here, he'd thought he'd been nervous. Well, nervous when you're fucking a guy is one thing, but when you're head over goddamn heels? Try 'panic and mass hysteria'. Add to that the hickey that was still visible on Ty's neck, and Zane had spent the entire evening in a perpetual state of terror.

One by one, though, the household went to bed, until it was just the two of them, Zane on the couch and Ty close by, chatting in low tones about the upcoming Sidewinder meetup. Zane tipped his head back and his thought process screeched to an abrupt halt as the urge to kiss Ty overwhelmed him. He turned away instead, swallowing, listening hard for signs of movement on the upper floors.

Ty's lips pressed against his temple, and he could've sworn he heard something shift.

"Ty," he whispered, but the man himself was giving him one of his most charming grins, and if Ty was all right with it? Zane figured he could be, too. He turned his head, a sweetly begging look in his eyes, and Ty took him right up on it. Kissed him, firmer than expected but gentler than he truly wanted. Still, it was a kiss. It was beautiful in how natural it felt, how normal, to be sitting on the couch near the fire with Ty leaning over his shoulder and the light jumping in those hazel eyes, to give kisses like each one was precious, but there would always be more.

"It feels like home, here." The words slid out of his mouth before he could even think, and he let them go, surprised to find that it was something he actually meant and wanted to say.

"Because it is home, Zane." He shifted until he was sitting on the arm of the couch, leaning around and against Zane's shoulders. Zane hummed and shifted, his head falling to Ty's fire-warmed side.

"Love you," he murmured, and Ty dropped a kiss to his forehead as he answered.

"Love you, too."

And it was right at that moment that Zane's eyes slid open, and he caught sight of Mara Grady leaning in the doorway, watching them.

He froze.

Ty frowned down at him, then looked up, seemingly nonchalant as he saw who was there. "Hey, Ma. I thought you went to bed."

One of Mara's eyebrows crept up her forehead. "I did. And then I got out of bed. Something you'd like to tell me, Ty?" Her voice had gone gentle on the question, but Zane could feel Ty tense up beside him--already bracing himself for the worst.

He opened his mouth to answer. Closed it. Opened it again. "I." He took a deep breath, leaning more of his weight against Zane. "Ma, Zane is... more than my partner at work." God, his nerves were very nearly palpable, jumping everywhere under his skin.

Mara looked them both over, one at a time, very critically. For a moment, she seemed about to say something sarcastic--instead, what came out was, "I know. I've had my suspicions for some time."

Ty stared at her, mouth agape, but Zane could feel something in him relaxing. "What? I mean... you have?"

That eyebrow went straight back up. "Beaumont, I brought you into this world. I think I know when my own son's found someone he likes." But then she turned that piercing gaze on Zane and Zane alone, and he swallowed, throat suddenly dry as old parchment paper.

"I... does Dad know?"

Mara shook her head. "I was waiting for you to say something, honey." She hadn't taken her eyes off Zane, though, and he was trying his best to look brave and proud--mostly only succeeding at not shaking like a leaf.

He had to say something. He had to. Zane swallowed and managed, "Ma'am, I--"

"Shush. I know you love him."

Ty was flushed up to the ears, all the more so when she put it like that. "You aren't..." he trailed off. Upset? Disappointed? He didn't know the right word.

Mara sighed and her thumb twitched, like she was mourning not having a spoon to whack him with. "I'd be upset if I didn't know Zane was such a fine, upstanding gentleman. I'd be upset if I thought you had a destructive relationship. But look at you--you're smitten, and he hasn't given up on you yet. Have a little faith in me, Ty."

Ty's throat worked as he all but fell off the arm of the couch, strode right over and hugged his Ma until something creaked. She gave as good as she got, pressing her knuckles to the back of his neck.

"I'm proud of you, baby," she whispered in his ear, just for him. "So, so proud."

"Thank you, Ma," he whispered back. "Love you so much. Best Ma ever."

"Love you too, sweetheart." She got herself out of his death grip and straightened his shirt. "Now. Go kiss your man, I'll get that glass of water I came down for, and then it's bedtime. Big day tomorrow. And the door stays open!"

Zane heard that and flushed bright red, trying not to look horribly guilty and failing miserably. Ty coughed. "Ma!"

No, no, that Look was not to be argued with. "If it's too cold for the door open, you're on the couch." And that was the end of that, Mara sweeping off for that water, and Ty collapsing next to Zane in a shaky fit of relief.

"That... could have been worse," he mumbled, worming his way into Zane's lap.

He hummed agreement, but before anything else could be said, Mara's voice floated in from the kitchen. "Bed, boys."

Yeah. Bedtime. Tomorrow was another big, scary day.