“I can’t apologize enough for bringing all of this into work.”

Beside him, Blane felt Falcon wince. He knew his boyfriend was blaming himself, as much as he’d reassured him all last night that it was not his fault.

“No, I appreciate that you’re being upfront. You said you had something to tell me about this whole issue?” Dianne looked curiously between the two of them.

“Okay. This is my new boyfriend, Falcon. Falcon, Dianne, my boss here.”

Dianne looked startled for a moment, and Blane resisted the urge to physically cross his fingers that he hadn’t made a grave miscalculation. Then, she nodded. “Let me guess. The review about you specifically… or the whole campaign? Is this a homophobic thing?”

Blane blinked. “Um—”

“Yes, ma’am,” Falcon cut in. He cleared his throat. “It’s also a jealousy thing. Closeted self-loathing stereotypes, you know. I think he orchestrated the campaign, and I know for sure he targeted Blane.”

“Got it.” Dianne cracked her knuckles and rolled her shoulders, her face splitting into a smile. “Thank you for coming to me. I know I can get the leverage I need to take down those reviews. I’m going to tell them you’re considering opening a police investigation. Are you?”

“Yeah,” Falcon said, which surprised Blane even more. Blane turned quickly to look at him, but his face was steely and resolute. “If he doesn’t leave me alone—and now Blane, and everyone employed here.”

“Okay.” Dianne leaned in. “I know it’s hard in this part of the country, but there’s a lot of us who have your back. Jealous ex, random internet troll, I don’t care. We take our employees’ side.”

Blane’s chest grew tight with emotion. He’d never directly come out to Dianne before. Not that he’d avoided it, but it hadn’t come up.

Kind of like Falcon, actually, when he thought about it.

“I really appreciate it,” he said quietly. “I know this is a hell of a mess to sort out.”

“It’s not your fault,” Dianne said firmly, and at last, it actually started to sink in. Blane had spent so long saying that to Falcon that a part of him had started to feel like it was his fault, if anyone’s.

But she was right. It was Spencer being… well, from the sounds of it, Spencer.

“The other reason I’m here,” Falcon spoke up, reaching out to squeeze Blane’s hand and bring him back to Earth, “is because I have photos of Blane at work. I’m an artist. I’ve been getting references of your animals for the past few months, and a lot of them have him in them. I took all the ones I could find.” He handed a USB stick over the desk and leaned back. “If it’s any help at all, that’s everything I could find. I have some photos of the animal enrichment programs, too, since some of the reviews were talking about the animals being bored and cooped up and that kind of stuff.”

“That’s a tremendous help,” Dianne said and offered him a smile. “Bright guy you’ve got here,” she added to Blane.

Blane flushed with pleasure and squeezed Falcon’s hand in return. “Thank you, ma’am. He is.”

Falcon looked embarrassed and waved it off. “It just upset me. I’ve been watching everyone at work for the last month, and… yeah. All those lying reviews. And I was worried about Blane in particular, but nobody here deserves that kind of garbage.”

“Are you prepared to bring it to the press if this gets ugly?” Dianne asked them both.

Blane looked at Falcon, then back at her. “Actually… I think we’d need to talk about that.”

“I would if you would,” Falcon told him. “Whatever you think is best for you and the zoo.”

“You only just—to your family—and your job?” Blane didn’t know how many people in Falcon’s line of work knew about him. Surely he’d come out to them before, but maybe not.

“Everyone important to me knows,” Falcon told him and looked back at Dianne. “If it will help, or get you positive press, and if Blane’s okay with it, I leave the decision to you guys. It is kind of my fault everyone else got dragged into this. So yeah, I’ll go to the police if it’ll get the review sites to take that stuff down. Or the press. Whatever helps.”

Blane let a breath escape as he watched Falcon. I’m so damn lucky. “You don’t have to.”

“I want to. It’s the right thing to do,” Falcon said firmly.

Dianne nodded. “Okay. Falcon, thank you for meeting me and telling me everything. Blane, I’ll talk to you later today, okay? I have to call my bosses and fill them in, and see what we can get done with this new information.”

They both shook hands, and then they were outside, still holding hands.

Blane felt stunned at everything that had just unfolded. “I think I’m off the chopping block.”

“Well, they know it’s all groundless bullshit rumors now,” Falcon told him. “You okay?”

After the last week of stress and vague threats, Blane had never felt better. “I—yeah. Really okay. Way better.”

“Oh, and Blane?” Dianne stood in the doorway, shielding her eyes against the morning sun.

Blane automatically straightened up and answered, “Yes, ma’am?”

“The animal art program can go ahead. I don’t care what my bosses say—you and the keepers have all told me it enriches the animals’ lives. Falcon, I know you were approved to help out with it, following the relevant handling procedures, of course. It would be a great pleasure to have you here.”

Falcon looked like he might be about to cry, but he beamed brightly in return. “Thank you, ma’am.”

It would take Blane a day or two to arrange a new schedule with the keepers, but he relished the prospect of letting Falcon get a little closer to the animals—not enough to handle them, of course, or get in the way, but a behind-the-scenes look that few people got to experience.

“That’s awesome,” Blane murmured once they were alone again, wandering toward the front gate with his boyfriend. “Are you gonna hang out here for the day?”

“I was gonna work today, but you know what? I think I’ll stick around,” Falcon said with a playful smile. “And tonight, pizza date.”

“Is pizza our food now?”

“Sure is,” Falcon grinned. Gregory was approaching, so Falcon let go of his hand. “I’ll let you get to work now.”

“I don’t think we’ve been really introduced.” Gregory grinned at them both. “Is this the guy you won’t shut up about?”

Falcon was looking at him with a teasing smile, and Blane felt the back of his neck and ears heat up. “It—yeah, this is him. Falcon. Gregory.”

“How’d the meeting go?”

“Great,” Blane told him, the relief rushing out in a sigh. “Just great. She supports us, and she’s going to try to explain to the websites that it’s a targeted homophobic harassment campaign.”

“Sweet,” Gregory exclaimed. “I mean, not that—you know. That they can do something.”

Blane laughed. “Yeah, obviously. And I’m out of trouble, too. Falcon had a bunch of photos of me, and the enrichment programs day to day, that kind of stuff to back up their CCTV and inspections and whatever else they do.”

“Seriously? Photos of him at work?” Gregory grinned.

Blane joined in his laugh. “I know! I was just teasing him last night—hey! Come back!” Falcon was pretending to stride away.

Falcon turned and sighed heavily at him. “You’re such a jerk.”

“I know.”

“Ew. Young love. I’ll be over there,” Gregory waved toward the clinic and rolled his eyes. “Nice to meet you.”

“You too,” Falcon said with a chuckle. Then, he patted Blane’s cheek. “Go on, get to work. I’ll be here when you’re done.”

“And tonight, pizza.”

“Pizza. And no secrets.”

Blane had never poured so much feeling into a single word as when he said, “None.”