Northstar, the openly gay astonishing member of the X-men, married his boyfriend, Kyle, today, in the long-awaited Astonishing X-Men 51. If I’m lucky, I’ll get to my comic store by the end of the week and pick it up–in advance of writer Marjorie Liu’s return visit to Boston to sign it–but Shaun never waits. His lunch hour on Wednesday is spent driving to his comic store and picking up that week’s batch of comics.

Except today, when he normally would go to pick up his comic books, he knew he’d have to cover for someone else, delaying his trip to the comic store. Not by much, but enough for him to worry that the store would sell out of Astonishing X-Men. So he told the store in advance he would be late, and asked them to put aside the books he would buy.

The last time I was in Buffalo, Shaun took me to his comic book store, introduced me to his friends there, and shared his Wednesday ritual. Which meant that when I called this morning, I knew which of Shaun’s friends to ask for, when I made my strange request: In the issue of Astonishing X-Men that they had put aside for Shaun, could you please insert a note–that you will have to write, since I’m here and he’s there–on the page showing the actual wedding. I told Shaun’s friend what to write in the note, and she kind of gasped, and I realized how the message could be construed, so I clarified: This is not a proposal. It’s just a thing.

So the note was written, hours ago, almost immediately after the store opened, and put inside the book that Shaun would buy–has bought already. I knew he’d flip through the book while he was still in the store–because he flips through his books while he’s still in the store–and that he’d see the note there. Which he did. Of course the note surprised him. He just hasn’t realized how long my arms are, when I really want to reach someone.