“What’ve we done? We’ve just given an open invitation to the entire planet to scrutinize our relationship,” Jasper says, completely monotone, suppressing the depth of his fear.
“I’m feeling positive about that. You heard the fans. They were screaming, chanting our names, supporting us. I’ve never felt so safe to be out.” Ryan places a soft kiss on Jasper’s shoulder, wrapping his arms around him and bringing him close.
“The entire planet, Ry, not just the fans that already shipped us. We knew they would react like that. I’m talking about everyone else.”
“I don’t care about everyone else. I care about us. Are you upset I kissed you in front of everyone?”
“No.” Jasper doesn’t even let Ryan finish the question before he answers. He groans, trying to understand why he’s so stressed about this, when Ryan is making things sound simple.
“We made the plan for me to come out and never really stopped to plan what we’d do afterwards. I don’t like not knowing what’s next. I need a purpose. What if this just ruined all our careers? I publicly exposed our manager. Who the hell will want to work with me now?”
“Someone with nothing to hide would be my guess.” Jasper almost resents that Ryan seems fine.
“How am I the one stressing and you’re the one making jokes right now?” Ryan laughs and places a kiss on the back of Jasper’s neck.
“I’m enamored by you. You left me no choice but to show the entire world that. Nothing anyone says or does will ever make me wish I’d contained myself. I’ve watched the video so many times already, and each time I watch that kiss and hear the screams from the audience, it brings tears to my eyes. I can’t believe we did that.”
Rising Stars (Sequel to Do You Ship Us?) Out in one week! www.doyoushipus.com
