The Snowy-haired Genius

Epilogue

"Jacey's mother! It's lovely to meet you." Winter held his hand out, smiling. "Jace has told me so much about you."

"Oh, you too, you too." My mother shook his hand, a huge smile on her face. "I'm so glad Jason has found somebody like you. How did you two meet?"

Winter glanced at me, his face going pale. I cleared my throat and looked away from my Mum. "Uh... A... Café...?"

"Yes, that's right. A café. Jacey was ordering a hot chocolate with sprinkles and whipped cream and I was behind him in the line. He turned around once he got his drink and turned around so fast he bumped into me. He stumbled, spilling his coffee all over the floor, and I grabbed him just before he hit the ground. Then I said, "I think you just fell for me," and I got claps from everybody in the entire café. It was amazing."

My mother laughed before remembering herself. "Oh! Anyway, come in, come in! I made dinner, but I burnt it so I ordered pizza. That's okay right?" She giggled and closed the door behind us as we entered, both of us nodding. I felt Winter's hand on mine and looked up at him, smiling. He reached up and took off my beanie. "You can't keep this on the entire time."

"Oh honey, you've never liked the cold have you?" My mother smiled and unzipped my jacket, putting it on the coat rack. "You know, ever since he was a child he's always hated cold weather. He used to grab his father's big coats and put them all on and he refused to leave the house unless he had on at least five jackets. And one time he couldn't even walk because he had on so many-"

"Mum! Don't tell him that." I hissed at her as Winter began to laugh. But it was true. I hated cold weather, and right now it was only four degrees Celsius.

"No, no, I wanna hear this. Any embarrassing stories you can tell me about my beautiful boyfriend?" Winter asked as he took off his own jacket. My mother just smirked. "Oh, so many. As a mother, it's my job. He's terrified of dogs, except for Donut, for some reason, and we used to have a poodle named Sadie. One time she chased him around the house because she thought he was playing a game and he ran towards me crying and wouldn't come out from underneath my shirt for two hours-"

"Mum."

"Really?" Winter asked with a smirk. She nodded before leading us into the dining room. There was three boxes of pizza on the table. I smiled. "Did you get Hawaiian?"

"Yes, but ew." My mother replied. Winter held his hand up for a high five. "Ew, Hawaiian." He agreed. "You and your pineapples on pizza."

"Fuck you." I told him, sitting down at the table. Donut came running up to me and jumped on my lap. I sighed and patted his head. "Dumb dog."

He licked my hand and jumped off my lap, running towards Winter instead. Winter laughed and patted the dog, who had grown a lot over the past two years and sat down at the table. My mother sat across from us. "So, when are you getting married?"

"Around a year." Winter answered. "I will propose to him eventually, but I want to surprise him with it."

"Can I have pizza now?" I asked, ignoring my mother and Winter who were gushing about the wedding. When I didn't get an answer, I nudged Winter and pointed at the box. "Hey, Winter, what's that say?"

"Dom... Dominoes?" He questioned, looking away from my mother to study the writing on the box. I nodded, kissing him on the cheek. My mother watched us curiously. "What was that all about?"

"I've been teaching Winter to read for about a year now. He was never taught." I answered. Winter nodded, making a tilting motion with his hand to symbol his uncertainty. "Eh... It wasn't that I wasn't taught to read, it was that I just couldn't. But I'm getting better now." He smiled proudly.

"That's beautiful." My mother smiled. "I can really see your love for each other. It's amazing in a way. I never had that kind of love with Dan. Maybe I should find myself a partner of the same sex."

"You should. I've never been happier." Winter nuzzled my jaw when I said that, gripping my thigh. My mother smiled yet again. "I'm so glad that you've found somebody, Jason. Though I'll admit, I did think you were aromantic. But still, I'm so happy for you two. You know, Winter, Jason has always been a very lonely child. When I picked him up from his first day of school he had a huge black eye. It turned out a few of the kids had ganged up on him. It didn't stop, even when we moved him to five different schools, so eventually we decided we were going to pull him out and let him do online schooling instead-"

"Mum," I sighed. "Winter doesn't need to hear about some stupid kids from my old class."

Winter looked concerned and pulled my head towards him, kissing my temple. "If anybody is mean to you ever again, I want you to tell me and your mother. We'll beat the shit out of them."

I rolled my eyes. "I don't go to school anymore. I'm twenty, remember? God, you can be dumb sometimes."

"Don't be mean." Winter and my mother chorused. I shoved another piece of pizza in my mouth grumpily. My boyfriend chuckled and looked back over at my mother. "So, away from the subject of bullies, any stories you can tell me about Jacey?"

I punched his arm, scowling. "That is not necessary. Mum, don't start Goddamnit."

"Well, he used to let me bathe him when he was a child. And then, every time I tried to dress him he would run around our apartment naked, giggling. I think I've got a few photos actually, let me go get my purse." She stood up, returning with her blue purse. She took out a photo and handed it to Winter. It was of a five year old me, standing naked and covered in bubbles. Winter burst out laughing as I snatched the photo away with a burning red face and shoved it into my pocket.

"Oh! And he used to have a toy rabbit named-"

"Mum, please don't tell him about that. He doesn't need to know about Boo-Boo." I told her, hiding my face in my hands. My mother ignored me and went into her bedroom to grab my blue rabbit. She showed it to Winter, who smirked at me. "What a lovely toy, Jacey."

"Shut up, I was a kid!"

"He also used to dress up in my old dresses. Come on, I've got heaps of framed photos in the lounge room." She led us into the lounge room and showed us photos. Winter nudged me and pointed at a specific one of me in a blue dress, trying to do my makeup in the mirror. I turned even redder and shoved him. "Shut up, Winter!"

"I didn't say anything!"

The night of torture eventually ended. Winter and I were about to go back to the hotel we were staying, but Mum asked if we wanted to spend the night in my old bedroom instead. Winter smirked at me, a different smirk than his last one. A lustful smirk. I blushed bright red and eyed him back. "Stop eye fucking each other," My mother interrupted. "And answer my question."

"We'd love to stay." Winter answered, putting his arm around me.

Winter was sitting in my bed when I came out of the bathroom. He was studying some of books and reading the blurbs, biting his lip as he tried to figure out some of the words. I put the books in a stack on the floor and snuggled my head into his chest. "Tonight was... Meh."

"You mean you loved it." He lay down, smiling

I chuckled and nodded. "Yeah, I loved it. But I love you more."

"I'm going to marry you." Winter asked, sitting up. He planted a kiss on my lips and looked at me with a smile. "Maybe not today, or tomorrow, or next year. But one day, when you least expect it I'm going to get down on one knee and-"

"And suck my dick."

"No. And propose." He chuckled. I bit my lip and nodded. "I know you will. Goodnight, Winnie."

"Goodnight, Jacey."

We turned off the light.