Damien sighed. "I hope you're right."

"Hey, even you admit that I'm right a bunch. I'll be right about Zoey coming back soon, too. I just know it."

"Okay, well, I'm going to believe you, mostly because I love your positive attitude."

Jack grinned and gave him a quick kiss. "Thank you!"

"Well, whether Z comes back in a week or a month, I'm still not sure it's a one-hundred-percent good idea for you to hang paper swords outside from a tree when you don't know when you're going to need those decorations. What if it rains tomorrow?" "Oh, I'm not going to put them all up, silly! I'm just doing a test run on a few of them to be sure I have the folds perfect so they'll hang right."

"Is that why you have the claymore here? It looks awfully sharp and, well, exposed leaning against the table like that. Shouldn't the pointed end be down?"

Jack's gaze followed Damien's over to where the long silver sword rested, hilt down on the ground, blade up and shining in the flickering gaslights that illuminated the school at night. "Well, Dragon gave me strict instructions, which I mostly listened to even though I kept being distracted by how sad he looked. You know, I don't think he's doing very well." Jack said the last part of the sentence in a hushed voice as if he didn't want Duchess to overhear him.

Damien sighed and threaded his hand with Jack's. "I don't think he's doing very well, either."

"Yeah, he was telling me stuff about not sticking the pointy part of the sword into the ground 'cause it'd make it dull or something, and all I could think about was how dark the circles were under his eyes," Jack said.

"Honey, I don't think he's been sleeping," Damien said sadly.

"I shouldn't have bothered him about borrowing a sword, but I wanted to use a real example to create origami from and not just a picture."

"I don't think you were bothering Dragon.

Anastasia's death is something he's going to have to work through. I'm sorry to say it, but there's nothing we can or can't do to change that. And anyway, you had an excellent idea. Your origami is looking very realistic."

Jack wriggled with pleasure. "Oooh! Do you really think so?"

Damien put his arm around him and held him close. "Absolutely. You're a gifted decorator, Jack."

Jack snuggled into him. "Thank you. You're the best boyfriend ever." Damien laughed. "That's not hard to be with you. Hey, do you need some help with folding the swords?"

It was Jack's turn to laugh. "No. You're not even good at present wrapping, so I'm guessing origami is not one of your many talents. But I could use your help with something else." Jack shot Duchess a pointed look, then leaned closer to Damien and whispered into his ear. "You could take Duch for a walk. She won't leave me alone and she keeps messing up my paper."

"Okay, no problem. I was going to go for a jog. You know what they say: a chubby g*y is not a happy g*y. Duch can take some laps with me. She'll be too exhausted to obsess over you."

"It's so cute that you jog."

"You don't say that when I'm hot and sweaty afterward," Damien said as he stood up and fished Duchess's leash from the winter-browned grass.

"Hey, sometimes I like you hot and sweaty," Jack said, smiling up at him.

"Then maybe I won't take a shower afterward," Damien said.

"Maybe that's a really good idea," Jack said.

"Or maybe you should take the shower with me."

Jack's grin widened. "Now that's more than maybe a really good idea."

"Tart," Damien said, bending to kiss Jack deeply.

"Linguist," Jack said before kissing him back.

Duchess wriggled her way between them, huffing and wagging and licking both of them.

"Oh, pretty girl! We love you, too!" Jack said, kissing Duchess on her soft muzzle. "Come on, let's go get some exercise so we stay properly svelte and attractive for Jack," Damien said, pulling on the big dog's leash. She followed him, but with obvious hesitance.

"It's okay. He'll bring you back soon," Jack said.

"Yep, we'll see Jack soon, Duch."

"Hey," Jack called after the two of them. "I love you two!"

Damien turned, picked up Duchess's paw, waved it at Jack, and yelled, "We love you, too!" Then they jogged away, Duchess barking excitedly as Damien pretended to chase her.