An heir's interesting solution

Episode2

Chapter Two: Desperate Measures

The party had thinned out. The bass had given way to a lone guitar somewhere in the yard, and someone was laughing too loudly near the driveway. In the bedroom, the streetlight through the curtains painted a pale stripe across the blankets.

Eli’s fingers had been tracing small circles over Daniel’s heart for a while when a thought drifted in and wouldn’t leave. He lifted his head.

“Daniel? Do your parents know? About you?”

Daniel smiled at the ceiling, and some of the tension left his shoulders. “They’ve known for years. My mom figured it out before I did, I think. She just waited until I was ready to say it.” He shook his head, still smiling. “My dad’s reaction was to ask if I wanted to go get burgers. That was the whole conversation. They’re completely fine with it.”

“Wow,” Eli said softly. “That’s... really good. I’m glad.”

“Me too. It’s the one thing I never had to worry about.”

Except everything else, neither of them said.

Silence settled over the room again, but this time Eli’s mind was working. He stared at the stripe of light on the wall, and Daniel felt it, the small shifts in his weight, the way his breathing changed. Then Eli pushed himself upright and looked down at Daniel, eyes bright and a little wild.

“I think I might have an idea.”

Daniel propped himself on his elbows. “Okay. Go on.”

“It’s going to sound crazy.” Eli bit his lip. “But desperate times, desperate measures, right?”

“Eli, I’m lying here with no plan and a ticking clock. Crazy is welcome.”

Eli took a breath. “My sister. Marisol.”

Daniel blinked. “Your sister?”

“Since the start of high school, all she’s talked about is working in business. She wants to run something someday, and nobody will give her a real shot because she’s young and has no connections. She’s practically memorized every business magazine in the house.” He leaned forward, the words tumbling out. “And she’s a lesbian, so there’s no chance of her, you know, actually falling for you. Nobody’s heart gets tangled up.”

“Eli...”

“So what if you offered her a deal? She marries you, and in exchange she gets a job at your grandfather’s company. A real one. She works her way up legitimately, proves herself, and the marriage only has to last until your grandfather is satisfied that the will’s condition has been met.” He spread his hands. “Everybody gets what they want.”

Daniel looked at him for a long moment, and doubt crossed his face. It wasn’t that the idea was absurd. He’d had a thought like it in his darkest moments, picturing a short marriage as a bitter pill he could swallow for the sake of the company. But thinking it alone in his room was different from hearing it said aloud, in daylight logic, by the person he’d just fallen into.

“I don’t know if I can actually do that,” he said quietly. “Stand up in front of everyone I love and pretend.”

“I know.”

“And you’d have to watch it. You, of all people.”

Eli’s smile wavered, but it didn’t break. “I know that too.” He reached out and rested his palm against Daniel’s cheek. “But I’d rather be inside this with you, even if it hurts, than stand outside it and watch you carry the whole thing alone. If we do this right, Daniel, we can make it work. We just have to bring it to her the right way.”

Daniel searched his face, looking for any sign that Eli was only being brave. What he found was something steadier than bravery. It looked like a decision.

He let out a long breath and let his head fall back against the pillow. “Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Okay. But on one condition.” Daniel met his eyes. “If Marisol says yes, the only other people who know are my parents. No one else. Not your friends, not mine, not a single person at that school.”

“Your parents,” Eli repeated, with a nervous little laugh. “I’m going to meet your parents. As the guy who’s proposing a fake marriage to their son.”

“They’ll love you,” Daniel said. “They’ve heard about you since I was eight.”

Eli stared at him. “You told your parents about me since you were eight?”

“I may have mentioned a pencil.”

Eli laughed, helplessly this time, and then he bent down and kissed Daniel, slow and certain, like a signature at the bottom of a page.

“Deal,” he whispered against his mouth.

When he finally lay back down, tucked against Daniel’s side, the room felt different. The problem was still out there, as large and unsolved as ever. But for the first time since Daniel had said the word will, it felt like something two people could carry.

All they had to do now was ask Marisol, and hope she said yes.