Page 28 of The Winging It Holiday Special

That was too much. His eyes burned, and he pressed the heels of his palms into his sockets. The ache in his chest expanded until it cracked and burst, and relief and hope flooded into the cavity left behind. “Michelle—”

He blindly flailed out a hand, and she grabbed it. “I know. I’m sure.”

He inhaled a wet, shaky breath. “Thank you.”

Their little scene must have attracted attention, because someone snowed to a stop in front of them. Dante didn’t have to look to know who.

Gabe hit his knees on the ice in front of him. “Dante? Hey, what’s going on? Are you okay?”

Dante wiped his right hand over his eyes and then looked up.

“He’s okay,” Michelle said from somewhere very far away.

“I’m okay,” Dante echoed, even though he sounded like a frog. Gabe’s forehead was creased with worry, but his gaze wassteady. Dante reached for it, grounded himself in it. This wasn’t the time.

Or maybe it just wasn’t the place. “I’m okay,” he repeated, but then he blinked a couple of times and reevaluated. “Actually, can we go home?” Was that rude? Fuck. He glanced sideways at Michelle. “It’ll be a tight squeeze in the SUV, but you should all fit.”

“Yeah, of course—”

Gabe was already digging in his pocket for his keys and shouting over his shoulder. “Dad! Trade me cars?”

There was a jangle of metal on metal, and then somehow they were in Chris’s car, Gabe’s hand warm in his. When did they take their gloves off?

And then they were inside. “Babe, you’re freaking me out here.”

Yeah, Dante was used to being pretty extra, but this was a lot, even for him. “Uh.” He wiped his eyes again, but his face was dry now, so at some point he’d stopped leaking. “Michelle’s pregnant.”

It didn’t register right away. Gabe’s concern softened into confusion first. Then his eyebrows went up and his jaw went down and the color went right out of his face.

“She asked if we—” He was going to lose it again.Shit.He cleared his throat and gestured helplessly.

For a disorienting moment, reality reasserted itself. They’d talked about having kidstwo days ago. They hadn’t had a chance to discuss timelines, let alone adoption or surrogacy or fostering. Maybe Gabe wanted to open their house to queer youth. Maybe Gabe wouldn’t be ready to welcome a baby in—shit, what would it be? June? Maybe Michelle would change her mind and the whole thing would fall apart.

Maybe, maybe, maybe—

Gabe still looked like Dante had hit him around the head with a full diaper bag. “She wants us to…?”

Dante nodded wordlessly.

They stood in the entryway, holding hands and their breath as the seconds ticked by.

Finally the surface tension snapped and Gabe pulled Dante into his arms so they could cling to each other properly. Dante dug his fingers into the back of Gabe’s coat and held on tight.

And then Gabe started laughing. “Only you.”

Should Dante be offended? “Only me what?”

“Only you could meet a random woman at the mall and have heroffer you a childthree weeks later.”

Okay that—might be true, but—“Hey, don’t give me all the credit, it’s technically your family she’s marrying into.”

“Fuck.” Gabe was still laughing, but now his face was wet too, and cold, and pressed to the side of Dante’s neck. “There’s gonna be so many terrible incest jokes.”

Dante snorted a laugh of his own and held on tighter. “Are we crazy? This is—this is crazy, right? Are we for real going to adopt your soon-to-be stepsister’s baby? Are we going to beparents?”

“Yeah,” Gabe said. “I mean. Michelle could change her mind. Things could—it’s early. But yeah. We’re doing this.”

“Fuck yeah we are. We’re gonna be awesome.” His face hurt from smiling. He wanted to reassure Gabe that it wouldn’t happen—that everything would be fine, that Michelle wouldn’t change her mind. But they’d be empty words—she might, and they’d have to accept it if she did. Except if they dwelled on that, they’d both lose their minds. So instead he said, “But if you ever call me Daddy in bed—”

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