At Attention (Out of Uniform 2)

Somehow Dylan had given each of the kids at least one speaking line, and even their dancing seemed designed to make sure that every kid got a few moments out front where their family could get a good photo. He was a genius for stuff like that—making sure things were fair for everyone. The same weird pride Apollo had felt all afternoon bloomed again, an unfamiliar yet not unpleasant tightness in his chest.

My guy’s pretty awesome. But of course Dylan wasn’t his guy. Couldn’t be and Apollo might as well be dreaming about the fairy castle mural on the gym wall as imagining that Dylan would care how proud Apollo was. Dylan radiated self-confidence up there in front of the room. He didn’t need bolstering, not the way Neal had—

Neal.

Apollo hadn’t thought about him the whole performance, which was unusual as normally at an event like this he couldn’t get Neal off his mind, thinking about how much Neal would like seeing the girls, how much he was missing. He’d felt a pang when Pat had mentioned him back at the check-in, but that had quickly evaporated in the face of joy at seeing the girls so happy and the distraction of Dylan.

And God, he was positively addicted to the distraction that was Dylan. The past two weeks had been hell at work with the admiral coming down hard about a training exercise that was due to start that morning, and coming home to Dylan and sharing time with him—and, okay, yes, the sex too—was the best part of Apollo’s day. Dylan made him feel more grounded, more able to deal with the pressures of work, more able to cope with the demands of the girls. It probably wasn’t the healthiest to think of Dylan as his human stress ball, but that’s exactly what he was for Apollo.

“My. Such a crush of people.” Pat touched Apollo’s arm, getting his attention away from his thoughts of Dylan. At the front of the room, it was indeed chaos as parents claimed kids and other children hopped around. Everyone seemed to want a piece of Dylan as he had a large circle of smiling parents vying for his attention.

“Do you think we should wait with you? Or maybe we should catch up later?” As always, Marilyn was protective of Pat’s nervousness around crowds.

“Why don’t you go on? I’ll text you later and maybe we can do dinner, and then you can show the girls all the pictures you took.” Apollo wasn’t any too eager to fight through the crowd himself, but on his own he could hang back, survey the pandemonium the way he would a training exercise. And he also didn’t have to worry about what Pat and Marilyn might guess at between him and Dylan. He’d barely restrained himself from hugging Dylan when he’d arrived, and lord, that would have been all sorts of awful.

You still wanted it, in-law horror and all. Yeah, he had, and the guilt only added to the sludge of emotions in his gut.

Finally, the crowd started to dissipate, parents and kids heading back down the hall to check out with the staffers manning the front desk. His twins were still twirling around with a few friends up front when Apollo stepped forward.

“Baba! I waved at you!” Chloe grabbed his hand.

“I saw.” Apollo smiled at her.

“You guys did great.” Dylan stepped closer to them. “I’m so proud of you.”

“Me too.” Apollo’s throat was thick, and despite his better judgment, he tried to tell Dylan with his eyes that he meant him too. Chloe scampered away, back to playing with her sister and friend, and still his and Dylan’s eyes held. “The play was great.”

“It was. Such a success!” The director, a woman with a long gray ponytail, came up to them. “And I didn’t catch you earlier, but I understand congratulations are in order?”

“Pardon?” Apollo’s heart sped up. What had Dylan told this woman about them? Did he really think—

“Dylan’s been named assistant director at one of the Boys and Girls club locations for the upcoming school year. I know many of our families are going to be thrilled at this news. They’ll probably see enrollments increase just because he’s there.”

“They will?” Apollo blinked, trying to digest this news. Years of military service had him schooling his expression and his tone, even as his head swam.

“Oh, of course. Dylan’s our most popular staffer.” The woman beamed, and Apollo was torn between pride for Dylan and wanting to throttle the guy for keeping this news a secret. “I should probably head back to the front, but it was nice seeing you, Lieutenant. So glad you got time off to come.”

Apollo made a noise that he hoped passed for agreement.

She laughed, a sound far too light for the heaviness in Apollo’s limbs. “Dylan, Allie and I will handle lock-up if you want to go with the girls.”