n

n

nChristian was living the dream. He never knew things could be so peaceful!

nHis sixth sense had been a near-constant alarm in his head for most of his life and now it was gone. Completely gone! It was still hard to believe he had gotten rid of that annoyance without having to lose flying.

nHe was able to keep the power that truly mattered to him, the woman he loved was slowly but surely leaving her mark on his apartment, and he was perfectly content with the world once he had recovered enough to move around normally post stabbing.

nChristian had backed away from the world of heroes entirely. He wished he could have left a message for some of the heroes who knew him well letting them know he was okay but he was low-key nervous about what Nox would do if the man caught him in costume again. Showing up randomly at his apartment to chew him out seemed like the worst case scenario.

nWhat would he do if a villain showed up looking for him while Avery was here? He would never be able to explain his way out of that!

nHe could never let her find out about his former alter ego. It would be too awkward considering she used to have a crush on him. That was one secret he intended to take to his grave.

nHeroes typically didn't tell people who they used to be. They tended to slip away into obscurity, exactly like he was already doing. There was no reason for him to tell her even if they did get married eventually.

nChristian had been thinking about that more and more often lately. Liam and his parents had been teasing him about settling down even before he retired but now that he had their

"hints

" were getting rather pointed. He knew he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Avery but she still had things to do.

nWhat those things were…he had no idea. She never told him why she wasn't good girlfriend material using specifics. Only that she had things she wanted to do.

nAngelo said the same thing. He would be insufferable if Christian tried to take things to the next level, wouldn't he? He had noticed that she hadn't told her cousin of sorts that she had moved in with him. Vanessa had visited here but he hadn't.

nThat didn't bode well to him. Why was she hiding that from someone she was so close to? Because he would give her a hard time about their relationship the way he had that day in the bowling alley when she was in the bathroom?

nChristian wished he understood Avery better. He knew all of her daily habits…what foods she liked…the sort of person she was…but he didn't know what was important to her. Wasn't that something he should know as her boyfriend? He really needed to ask her about it.

nHe knew she valued her career but didn't think that had anything to do with why she didn't want to settle down. They worked in the same building. He didn't see any roadblocks to her being a cake decorator and being with him unless she planned to move but she would never do that with how attached she was to her childhood home.

nHe pondered all of this when he was supposed to be going over paperwork. It was easier for his mind to wander now than it had been when his sixth sense was distracting him all the time for some reason. Why was that?

nAt the end of his shift he went downstairs to meet up with Avery as usual. She was chatting with Vanessa as they both wore their Carmine's uniforms in the lobby of the building and she smiled at him with her heart in her eyes and waved when she saw him.

n

"Hey, Christian! How was your day?

"

n

"Could have been better. What about yours?

"

n

"Oh, it was fine. I got a new custom cake order that will be a real challenge and I'm looking forward to it,

" Avery said with sparkling violet eyes.

nShe took his free hand, said goodbye to Vanessa, then cheerfully elaborated on the cake design premise in further detail as he had known she would. She could never quite keep her enthusiasm reigned in when she had a receptive audience.

nThis particular cake order was meant to be a sculpture shaped like a life-sized person and she had never done anything like it before despite watching countless videos of other people doing similar things. She was both excited and nervous about how it would go and had a lot to say about it most of the way home.

nWhen she finally stopped for breath Christian decided to try and segue into what he had been thinking about earlier.

"Do you see yourself doing more things like this in the future?

"

n

"That would be awesome! You know lattice work is my specialty but I could totally get into making cake sculptures more. I already do some out of cereal treats and modeling chocolate but those are mostly toppers at this point.

"

n

"Is Marianne planning on taking more orders like this or will you have to go somewhere else?

"

nAvery let out a small laugh.

"Marianne wouldn't survive without me. And I wouldn't survive without Ness so I'm sticking with her unless I can convince her to go solo with me one of these days. Why do you ask?

"

n

"I was just curious what your long-term plans were. You don't talk about them much. Do you want to open your own bakery someday?

"

n

"Honestly, that seems like a huge hassle to me. I think I'd be happy staying where I am as long as I get to have more creative freedom. I've done some mirror glaze pouring videos for the channel lately on my own time and people have ordered them since. I think she's finally starting to see things more my way.

"

nThat didn't exactly answer Christian's question. He didn't understand why she didn't feel ready to settle down if she was satisfied with her job and had no intention of changing it any time soon.

n

"I'm glad you managed to convince her. Your talents aren't being put to their full potential.

"

nAvery smiled.

"I think so too. I'd like to focus more on new cake art while having someone else take over my basic portfolio for custom cakes but hiring someone or not is on her. Things have been pretty busy lately so that's my hope.

"

n

"She's going to have to sooner or later,

" Christian predicted.

"Is that really all you want though?

"

nShe tilted her head at him curiously.

"Yeah. I'm fairly easily satisfied. Why so many questions today?

"

n

"I guess I've been thinking about the future a lot lately.

"

n

"Oh.

"

nHe wasn't sure whether that was a good oh or a bad oh. It was hard to read that sort of thing. He looked at her seriously.

"I take it you haven't been.

"

n

"I have,

" Avery admitted in a heavy tone.

"But I shouldn't. I'm really trying to take things one day at a time as best I can. That's how I've always gotten by since my dad died. It's kind of hard to picture a future without him in it.

"

nNow it was Christian's turn to say

"oh.

" He hadn't realized that still weighed on her so heavily all this time though obviously he knew she and her had had been close. The signs of a person unwilling or unable to move on were all there. Why hadn't he seen it?

n

"I'm sorry,

" he added lamely.

"That must be hard.

"

nShe sighed and looked down at their entwined hands.

"It is. I can't really think about the future much when I'm too worried about my world collapsing on me the way it did before. Losing my dad destroyed my life as I knew it.

n

"He was my best friend and everything changed once he was gone. All the things that mattered to me…all of my hopes and dreams…they kind of got put on the back burner. I suppose I'm still trying to figure out where all of that leaves me even after he's been gone this long. Isn't that sad?

"

n

"I've heard that grief works differently for everyone. I'm not sure what to tell you since I've never experienced such a loss but I want you to know that I'll be there for you while you figure it out…if you're interested,

" Christian told her sincerely.

nAvery looked up at him with an oddly heartbroken air about her despite the fact that she was smiling.

"That's an offer I can't refuse. Thanks, Christian. I hope I do manage to figure things out one way or another. I don't want to leave you hanging forever since you've been thinking about the future lately.

"

n

"You're worth waiting for. As long as I get to be with you in the meantime I'm fine.

"

n

"Is that right? What do you want out of the future then?

"

n

"Nothing too fancy. All I really want is for you to keep decorating and redecorating our apartment indefinitely and to know you'll be there to cuddle with me at the end of a long day of paperwork no matter what. I wouldn't mind a couple of kids someday either. I've always liked them. You're more important though so if that's not something you want—

"

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