Epilogue

C onnelly Estate was several hours from Sydney, in the Hunter Valley. Tristan and Leo left early on Saturday morning, sharing a hire car with Harry and Jack, and arrived before noon. It was a gorgeous day. The sky was a brilliant blue, and the air smelled of eucalyptus and wattle, courtesy of the trees that lined the driveway from the turnoff up to the house.

A girl in jeans and a singlet was waiting to meet them.

"Hey," she said, holding two sets of keys out for Tristan, who was in the front passenger seat. "You guys are in the last two cabins. Turn right and follow the road. You can't miss them. This whole thing starts in…" She squinted at her watch. "Two hours, but Mum says you have to be at the chapel half an hour beforehand if you're in the wedding party."

Tristan vaguely remembered meeting her at least once before. Liam's younger sister, Riley. She had red hair and a cheeky grin. He took the keys. "You guys have a chapel now?"

Riley shrugged. "Well, it's an old packing shed, but the tourists go apeshit for it." She smacked the top of the car. "See you there. "

They bumped down the gravel road that led through the trees, past a pond filled with ducks, to a series of cute little cabins set out like a tiny bushland village.

"Oh, wow," Harry said, leaning forward between the front seats. "This is amazing!"

They piled out of the car, and Tristan took the opportunity to stretch while Jack and Leo began to unload their suitcases and suit bags from the boot. He drew in a deep lungful of fresh air and luxuriated for a moment in the sensation of sunlight on his face. He loved his surgical rotation at the hospital, and he was learning so much, but sometimes it felt like the whole world tasted like cold air and antiseptic. It was good to get away from it for the weekend. And a cute cottage thrown in as well? As soon as this whole ceremony thing was done, he was going to spend the rest of the weekend repaying Leo for last night's blow job.

The old Tristan wouldn't recognise the new one. Early mornings, long hours and too exhausted to go more than one round with a hot guy? Impossible! But the new Tristan loved his life, even the parts where he was dog tired, because he was sharing it with Leo. He didn't miss clubbing, staying up until dawn or finding some new hot guy every time he wanted to get laid. Because he had Leo, and Leo was everything he wanted. He was everything he needed .

Life was better than good. Life was fucking perfect.

A little under two hours later, the four of them made their way to the chapel. Harry and Tristan wore matching suits. Tristan had side-eyed the pale green ties and waistcoats, thinking the colour looked strange and washed out, but, when Mrs. Connelly met them at the door with their wattle and eucalyptus boutonnieres, he got it. They matched perfectly.

"See you after," Leo said, and kissed him on the cheek. Then he and Jack went to find their seats.

The chapel, like Riley had said, was an old packing shed. The beams were rough and weather-worn, and one wall had been removed and replaced with glass picture windows that looked out over the trees and, in the middle distance, the rolling vineyards. It was beautiful.

Ambrose was pacing in a side room when Harry and Tristan found him. Harry immediately hugged him and took forever to let him go. They both looked suspiciously wet-eyed when Harry finally stepped back.

Tristan's hug was briefer, but no less sincere. He patted Ambrose on the back before releasing him. "How are you doing? Nervous?"

"Shitting myself," Ambrose said, and blew out a shaky breath. "But also, wow, how lucky am I?"

"How's your mum?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, she's good," Ambrose said. "She's sitting with Liam's grandad. He's a fan, so, you know. That keeps her good, talking about the old days and stuff."

Tristan leaned out the door to check on things. The rest of the guests were arriving, and the chapel was filling up fast.

Riley ducked between two groups of people, her pale green dress hiked up to show off a pair of cherry red Doc Martens. "Hey. Liam's ready. Dad says the music's going to start soon, so, you know, get your arses out here." She grinned at Ambrose. "Nervous much? The last time you looked this pale, you and Grandad had been on the port again."

"I'm going to drink him under the table one day," Ambrose said.

Riley shrugged. "Better men than you have tried and failed."

She darted away again.

"It's free port," Ambrose said, shaking his head. "Why the hell would I try and beat him for real? "

"And this is why you started Bad Boyfriend," Harry said. "Because, at heart, you're a con man."

"Probably," Ambrose said. "Liam says it's because I'm an actor."

Harry flushed. "Jack said it's because I like helping people."

They turned to look at Tristan.

"Oh," he said. "I was bored, and it seemed like it'd be a cheap laugh. Now, are we gonna go out there and get Ambrose married or what?"

Outside, the music started.

"Yeah," Ambrose said, showing them a wobbly smile. "Let's go and get me married."

Tristan and Harry stood with Ambrose at the makeshift altar—an old door laid across a couple of wine barrels—while Liam and his groomsmen joined them. Groomsmen was a stretch—Liam's sister Riley and his toddler nephew Balian were his attendants. Riley was mostly wrangling the kid, who seemed intent on undoing his bowtie and kicking off his shoes. Tristan knew the feeling.

Harry was beaming and kept looking back to where Jack was sitting. Tristan knew that feeling as well. Despite telling himself that he was totally unaffected by weddings and all that nonsense, the fact that he was here, taking part in one, and Leo was right there… Well, it put all sorts of ideas in his head—soft, fluffy ideas that started in his brain, then migrated down into his chest and burrowed there warmly, like a bunch of fuzzy animals. It should have been disconcerting, except it wasn't. Leo hadn't changed Tristan, but Tristan had changed because of him. And that felt okay. It felt better than okay .

The ceremony was only short, officiated by a local celebrant. Ambrose and Liam exchanged their vows in somewhat shaky voices, both of them grinning like absolute fools. But then again, so was everyone. When they kissed, everyone cheered and clapped. Liam's mum Fi cried happy tears, and even his dad's eyes were suspiciously glassy.

Afterwards they all moved out to a marquee on the lawns behind the house, and after the speeches and the toasts, they spent the afternoon celebrating. Once, Tristan would have thought getting married and being tied down to someone was a nightmare, but now he felt like, if that person were Leo, it might be a dream come true. Not now, not yet —he had to finish his rotation first—but someday soon.

"What has you all starry-eyed?" Leo asked him, handing over a glass of red.

"Nothing. This whole thing's just romantic, that's all," Tristan said, stealing a kiss.

"You know what's romantic?" Leo said, nodding over to the corner where Ambrose's very pregnant sister Bridget was lying on an outdoor couch. Her feet were in her husband Orhan's lap, and he was rubbing them and looking at her tenderly. "That. True love right there."

"It is, isn't it," Tristan said. "Why don't you rub my feet, babe? Don't you love me?"

Leo elbowed him. "I rub you plenty, just not your feet. But if you'd rather I rub your feet than your dick…"

"Dick!" piped up a small voice.

Tristan looked down to find Balian staring up at him, wide eyed. The toddler had successfully ditched his shoes somewhere and had cake on his face.

Tristan took a step backward. "We're going to pretend we never heard that, aren't we? "

"Never heard a thing," Leo agreed as they rapidly put distance between themselves and Balian.

Fi, Liam's mum, swooped in and picked Balian up, dabbing at his face with a tissue and crooning grandmotherly nonsense at him as she carried him away. When he didn't say ‘dick' again, Tristan heaved a tiny sigh of relief.

"We don't want children, do we?" Leo asked suddenly.

Tristan's stomach swooped, but it was in a good way. He loved that Leo was even thinking about things like that. "Well, I think raising Harry is enough for now, don't you?"

For now.

Leo smiled. "Yeah."

They shared a look.

"If I was still a Bad Boyfriend," Tristan said, "I'd get up on that table, take my pants off and dance."

"Hmm. Pretty sure you don't need to be a Bad Boyfriend to do that," Leo said. "I think Liam's grandpa is about a glass of shiraz away from doing the same."

"Well, then," Tristan said. "Maybe I should just steal us a couple of bottles of wine, and we can go back to our cabin and drink them in the hot tub?"

Leo slapped him on the arse. "For a Bad Boyfriend, you have the best ideas."

Later, Tristan and Leo relaxed together in the hot tub on the back veranda of their cabin, the strains of Lou Reed's Perfect Day drifting out of a discreet Bluetooth speaker. They'd made their way through one bottle of wine and were working on the second.

"That was so nice," Leo said for about the hundredth time. "Not just the ceremony and the reception, but the family and everyone, you know? It was just so much fun. The last wedding I went to was my cousin's. I think I was about eleven or twelve. It was so boring I wanted to scream."

"Hmm." Tristan leaned in and stole a kiss that left Leo smiling. "When we get married, it'll be a fun wedding."

Leo raised his eyebrows.

"What?"

"Was that a proposal? That had better not have been a proposal, Tristan Montague, because we are naked and in a hot tub."

"I can't believe we forgot to pack our swimmers."

"I can't believe you're dodging the question like that."

Tristan laughed and reached for his wine glass. He took a sip. "No, that wasn't a proposal. When I propose to you, Leo, and I will , you'll know it."

Leo smiled. "And then we'll have a fun wedding."

"The most fun wedding," Tristan agreed. He hummed thoughtfully. "Maybe I'll wear a dress."

"You have the legs for it."

"Oh, I know . The rotation hours are hell, but all that walking has given me the calves of, well… someone with great calves."

Leo frowned. "Achilles?"

"I think he was known for his heels, and it turned out they weren't actually so great. Oooh, will I wear heels again?" He gasped as he was struck by a stroke of genius. "We could get married at the shop! Miss O'Jenny could officiate!"

"I'm not getting married at my place of work."

Tristan shrugged. "Liam did."

"Yes, but Liam works at a winery, not a sex shop."

"You said you wanted fun! What's more fun than a sex shop? You could throw a dildo instead of a bouquet! An entire bouquet of dildoes. "

Leo threw his head back and laughed. "Whoever catches this bag of dicks is next in line to marry their bag of dicks?"

"Speaking of bags of dicks, I thought the sex basket from Liam's folks was a nice touch. Weird, but nice. I was expecting something more like a cheese platter."

"I'm not sold on the quality, to be honest. And I'm sure we could offer them a better variety."

"God, you're such a professional now! Go on, lecture me on dildoes. The impromptu talk I got last week about varying degrees of firmness was legitimately fascinating."

"Stop!" Leo flicked water at him.

"No, it was! Even at my sluttiest, I was only ever an enthusiastic amateur!"

"So enthusiastic," Leo reminded him with a grin, "that you offered to blow me at a wake ."

"It's what Jimmy would have wanted."

"That's actually very true."

"And it was the best offer you ever turned down."

"It was." Leo threaded their fingers together under the water. "I'm glad I took you up on it the second time."

"Me, too."

"How much do you think a hot tub would cost?" Leo asked. "We could get a deck and a hot tub."

"At home?"

Leo hummed.

"I mean, we have the equity, but it's a terrace house. It has a yard the size of a postage stamp. Do you really want to lose half of it getting a deck put in?"

"I suppose not." Leo's smile grew. "What are you grinning about?"

"I'm so domesticated these days," Tristan said. "With my very adult, very responsible career and my business-owning boyfriend, with whom I discuss things like potential home renovations and equity. And I love it. It's not even the slightest bit chaotic, and I love it."

Leo pinched his side gently.

"I also love you," Tristan said, "if that pinch was a subtle reminder. I thought it went without saying."

"It does," Leo said. "But I still like to hear it."

"I love you," Tristan said, and kissed him.

Leo's laugh broke the kiss. "I love you, too."

"That does sound nice, you're right."

They settled into silence for a moment, gazing out at the stars. It really was incredibly beautiful in the Hunter Valley, but Tristan could barely pull his gaze away from Leo, because Leo was incredibly beautiful, too. He was looking back at Tristan and he was smiling, as though just being here with him made him happy. Tristan knew exactly how that felt.

"You have to get away from the city to really see the stars, don't you?" Leo murmured, leaning his head against Tristan's shoulder.

Tristan shifted and readjusted them, so that he could put his arm around Leo and draw him even closer. "You do."

He'd wondered, once or twice, if he'd ever miss his old life. The partying, the clubbing, the hooking up. And while he'd always look back on those things fondly, he didn't think he'd miss them. They'd been his city, and he'd loved his city, but Leo…

Tristan smiled and kissed him.

Leo was his stars, perfect and dazzling and brilliant, and he brightened Tristan's world in a way nobody else ever had.

And Tristan had never been happier.