Page 78 of Atlas & Miles
I nodded as he pointed to each man in turn, noticing that Sam and Cameron were nearly in each other’s laps. Oh, yes, they were definitely together. “Hi, everyone. It’s good to meet you all.”
The man Anson had pointed out as Tristan spoke first. “So, Atlas, are you a Daddy or a boy?”
The guy sitting beside him, Cameron, smacked his arm. “Tris! You can’t just ask that!”
Tris leaned forward, looking around Cameron to his . . . partner? “Sam, a little help?”
Sam raised his hands in the air. “Ohhh no, Tris. You deserved that one.”
Tristan pouted, huffing as he fell against the seat back, arms crossed.
Before anyone could say anything else, a legitimate silver fox walked up to our table, a tray of drinks in his hand. His white tee stretched and flexed across his muscled chest as he set the drinks in front of their respective owners, a myriad of tattoos peeking out from under the straining sleeves of his shirt. “Tristan, behave.”
Tristan gasped, uncrossing his arms to throw a hand to his chest. “I always behave, Henry!”
The fox named Henry glanced at Sam, raising an eyebrow. Sam smirked in reply while shaking his head. Tris stuck his tongue out at them both until the tall man stared at him, a Daddy glare if I ever saw one. Tristan instantly straightened in his seat.
“Good boy.”
I fought to hide my grin as Tristan blushed and Henry walked away. The dynamics in this group were fascinating.
“As entertaining as that was, I don’t mind answering,” I offered. “I’m a Daddy, actually.”
Sam grinned, sticking out his hand for me to shake across the table. “Welcome. We could use another Daddy in the group. Otherwise,” he continued, flicking a thumb toward Cameron and Tris, “these boys will have us running in circles.”
I laughed then sipped my drink.
But Sam’s perceptive gaze held mine for a few moments longer than I expected. Then he asked, “Atlas, I hope this doesn’t offend you in any way, but can I ask what your pronouns are?”
I gaped, my mouth dropping open. For a moment, Sam looked stricken, and my head shot toward Anson before I could stop myself.
Anson chuckled, shaking his head. “I didn’t say anything.”
Sam started sputtering. “I-I’m so sorry, Atlas. Please forgive m—”
I raised a hand in the air to cut him off, turning back to him with a soft smile, my shock dissipating. “There’s nothing to forgive.” Tears formed in my eyes. “It’s actually one of the sweetest things you could’ve asked.”
Much to my relief, Sam’s face relaxed.
“And to answer your question, they/them right now.”
Cameron tilted his head slightly, opening his mouth then shutting it again as though he thought better of speaking.
I huffed another laugh. “Please, feel free to ask, Cameron. I’m an open book. Anson’s told me about all of you, and I know he’d never hang out with assholes and bigots, so I trust you.”
Cameron’s smile was soft and sweet. “What did you mean by ‘right now’?”
“You caught that.” I smiled back. “I’m genderfluid, or as I like to call it, gendersparkly. That means that for me, my pronouns can change at any given time, though I prefer gender-neutral terms like ‘human’ and ‘person’ all the time. I also identify as transgender.”
Cameron’s eyes shot wide then flew to meet Sam’s. Sam nodded once, just slightly. “So do we.” Cameron’s voice was quiet, but the significance of the moment took my breath away. “We identify as trans, anyway. He/him for me and Sam.”
Instead of yelling at Cameron for speaking on his behalf like some overbearing pseudo-Daddies might have done, Sam just wrapped his arm around the man I now understood to be his boy and kissed him on the forehead. Then he turned to me. “Cameron was actually responsible for my trans awakening.”
My eyes widened. “Oh, I need this story. If you’re willing to tell it, of course.”
Sam nodded, grinning. The energy of the table changed, and while I suspected they’d all heard this story before, perhaps even lived it, we all leaned in as Sam started talking.
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