An October Question

By K.L. Noone

Wesley Kim wants to propose to his boyfriend. He just needs a perfect plan, so he can arrange the proposal of Finn’s dreams. But Finn keeps avoiding the subject. And Wes is beginning to worry.

Finn Ransom has a secret: he’s planning to propose to Wes. He’s trying hard not to give his plan away. But he’s not good at keeping secrets. And he’s pretty sure Wes is starting to notice.

Fortunately, the time’s just right for Finn to ask Wes a certain question, on a candlelit pumpkin-bright warm October evening ...

• Language: English
• Publisher: JMS Books LLC
• Release date: Oct 29, 2022
• ISBN: 9781685503154

K.L. Noone

K.L. Noone loves fantasy, romance, cats, far too sweet coffee, and happy endings! She is also the author of Port in a Storm and its upcoming sequel, available from Less Than Three Press, and numerous short romances with Ellora’s Cave and Circlet Press; her fantasy fiction has appeared in Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Sword and Sorceress anthologies. With her Professor Hat on, she teaches college students about Shakespeare and superhero comics, and has published academic articles and essays on Neil Gaiman’s adaptations of Beowulf, Welsh mythology in modern fantasy, and Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels.

Book preview

Chapter 1

Wesley Kim had a problem. Specifically, his problem involved his own desire to propose to his boyfriend. And Finn’s uncanny ability to avoid proposal discussions.

He looked down at Finn, in hushed evening candlelight and television-glow. The evening was quiet, except for movie-night sounds, which considerately stayed in the background and did not interrupt.

Finn, recently home from filming, was beautiful and satisfied and tired; he loved his superhero show, loved the spy thriller he’d be starting in a couple of weeks, and admitted to feeling both proud of his work and worn out. He’d been resting a lot, trying to balance training and physical roles with care for his knee and his legs, and practicing lines in the kitchen and in the shower.

Wes adjusted an arm around him. Finn, having fallen asleep partway through a classic Colby Kent gay rom-com, made a drowsy noise and nestled closer. Wes’s heart hurt with love, with cherishing.

The night surrounded them with shades of honey, amber, pumpkin-leaf sweetness. Southern California, in their home near the beach, in early October. Not too cold yet, no longer too hot, and good for lazy evening—or morning—cuddles.

With Finn’s candle collection and black-cat-shaped pillows and artistic colorful corn displays. With the book-lined space of Wes’s office down the hall, and this large squishy couch beneath them, and the three bowls of flavored popcorn on the table because Wes’s future fiancé had decided that experimental popcorn flavors were the hobby of the month.

Finn had said this was seasonal. Popcorn balls, autumnal snack mixes, and so on. Wes had been fine with the caramel-marshmallow option, and had eyed the strawberry-sugar and chipotle-lime versions with a few reservations. They hadn’t been that bad, in fact.

Of course they hadn’t. Finn was a fantastic cook, in some very specific ways. Experimental, and easily distracted by a new improbable combination of ingredients—Finn’s reaction to a recipe for blueberry-Szechuan black-bean-and-sweet-potato chili had been to literally hop around the kitchen in glee and then go shopping—but usually he was also pretty good at knowing and envisioning how ingredients and flavor combinations might fit together.

Wes liked familiar recipes. He could follow them. Steady. Unimaginative. Reliable.

He adjusted his arm around Finn, rubbed the closest arm gently, mostly just to touch. His boyfriend, his other half, his heart, did not wake. Exhausted; the Hollywood industry would do that. Even more so for Finn Ransom, former teen idol, no longer the biggest news story but someone audiences adored.

Finn wasn’t scandalous or shocking, was definitely in a long-term committed relationship, had been out as bisexual for years, and—given the old injuries and long absence from stage and screen—wasn’t the top of the A-list by any means, so he and Wes generally avoided the worst of the paparazzi and star-stalkers. But Finn remained supernaturally likeable, was open and genuine about his love for stories and extra-spicy gochujang chicken and Wes, and had a lot of fans, both the ones who remembered Cody and Finn’s Upside-Down Life and the ones who’d been impressed by more recent serious work, supporting parts, the recurring and compelling role involving super-suits and fantastical powers and a return, reluctantly, to a team.

Finn had borrowed one of the