Page 148 of The Price of Ice

Levy offered a hand, his smile to all appearances sincere despite the ambush. “And you are... Mike?” He guessed.

“Mikey,” he got corrected because Kallen’s brother was a weirdo like that and refused to give up his childhood nickname.

“I heard you went up north?” Levy mentioned casually as they walked towards the kitchen; and between photos of the glaciers and being offered dessert and ice-cream, it was like Levy had always been one of them.

Paul’s girlfriend Lia was there too, as were both his mother’s brothers and their own partners, assorted aunts and uncles and, in the corner on his wheelchair, Kallen’s one remaining grandfather watching the chaos.

Kallen went to him and squeezed his shoulder, bending over to kiss his cheek. “How has it been?” he asked.

His grandfather replied with the usual combination of nonsensical syllables, but his tone conveyed his meaning anyway.As good as can be expected. He’d said that a lot before the stroke in that very tone.

“I brought someone,” Kallen told him softly. It wasn’t like anyone else could have missed Levy, but it still felt a bit like a secret.

A good one he wanted to share with someone he loved. Someone who would be uncomplicatedly pleased. The inquiring noise led him to seeking his boyfriend out. “There.” He pointed. “His name is Levy, we are moving in together.”

The response was somewhat indignant.

“It’s new!” he explained, laughing a little. “Like, we were... close before, but it’s not even been a month since we started dating. Only we used to live together, in Jiro when I worked over there, you know?”

His grandfather grunted an acknowledgement, all humour disappearing.

“I’ve quit the team,” he explained, following Levy with his eyes as his boyfriend cut some of the cake at the centre table and served people around him. Right at home. Like he belonged inKallen’s childhood home. “It’s okay,” he reassured his grandpa when the next noise was worried. “I... They weren’t treating me right. I think I know what I want to do next.”

He met his eyes again, grey and faded but very much focused on his own. “Have you heard of omega lure?”

And just like that it was pouring out, what he could do and what he could show other people how to do, what it’d felt like to help Max be brave, how every day he seemed to think of another way to open up the world wider with this power he’d been given. How it felt to hear that what he was doing was helping other people, and how afraid he was he’d fail.

His grandfather reached out with his left hand at that and squeezed his forearm. More nonsensical syllables followed, except for how the tone was perfect, confident and self-assured, offering Kallen the faith he didn’t quite have in himself just yet.

He sighed, smiling a little despite himself. “I guess all I can do is try my best, right?”

And his grandfather’s smile was more than confirmation enough.

HE WENT TO FIND LEVYafterwards, getting pulled into a sideway hug the moment he was in range. Levy still smiled at him like he was the sunrise, too beautiful to look away from. Something to be grateful for each day no matter how sure you were that it was coming.

Lia was smiling at them. “You guys are adorable,” she told them. Paul and Lia had been together for years now, so even though he didn’t see her often, Kallen felt absolutely free to roll his eyes at her.

Levy turned to grin at her, completely unapologetic about how sappy they were being. “Thank you.”

“A little bird told me you are moving in together?”

“Yeah, found a little cottage by the water. You can put the housewarming party in your calendar for...” Levy glanced at Kallen. “Do we know when?”

And for the first time Kallen realised the flush on his cheeks wasn’t for him. “Are you drunk? We just got here!”

But before he could ask more questions, his father was ringing a little bell to get their attention and they were spilling over into the backyard. There was another table set up outside with rows of champagne flutes and bowls of pre-peeled grapes.

“What’s with the grapes?” Levy asked, he was hanging onto Kallen’s arm like his balance wasn’t so great, and Kallen had put his own arm around his waist. Mostly to support him.

“You don’t do grapes in Veral?” he asked in surprise. He’d always returned home for New Year’s, so he didn’t actually know anything about other traditions. “You eat one with each strike of the bell during the final countdown, and then the thirteenth afterwards. To give thanks for past blessings and ask for more sweetness to come this year.”

“Oh.” Levy’s smile turned goofy. “I like that. But I think I would need a watermelon to give enough thanks for my past blessings,” he added, giving Kallen a meaningful look. So completely over the top and yet also unarguably sincere.

So in the end he was still laughing when the first bell went off. But really, that’s precisely how he wanted to end this long hard year, letting it all go and finding joy in the process.

Instead of the thirteenth grape, Levy drew him close into a kiss, and Kallen found himself kissing him back hard. There was no way he could give enough thanks either, but he could make this promise; he’d give his all to nurturing this bond between them.

Epilogue: six years later

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